All the horses
by Claire O'Mack
Summary: All the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put Voyager back together again...
1. Chapter 1

I know it has been a while, I guess I just needed something to get stuck into again after I lost my enthusiasm for writing. I hope this story is it, seeing as the plot has been going round my head for months. Please enjoy.

ALL THE HORSES

Janeway didn't know what on Earth had possessed her to agree to Tom's little side project, and she certainly had no idea why she was here right now listening to him spew endless reams of tecnobabble at her. Sure she was kind of interested, and in the long run a faster, better armed shuttle would be beneficial. Right now however Voyager had bigger things to worry about. Including a distinct lack of Dilithium, seriously low food supplies and according to B'elanna a couple of dangerously overheating engine coils. Maybe Janeway thought as Tom continued to talk blindly to her, oblivious of her wondering thoughts, that this was simply a distraction, some good news in a long line of bad and worse.

"So you see, a couple more weeks and she will be up and running, I just need to get some more supplies to finish her off." Tom concluded as the light from the single lamp illuminating the cargo bay flickered for a moment. The shadows grew and Tom couldn't see Janeway's face as she stood not two meters in front of him. Her silence though had him worried, but just as he was about to take a step closer to her the light returned, casting its eerie glow across them once more. Tom tilted his head to the side as Janeway continued to stand before him in silence. Her own expression one of concern as she slowly moved her head around the room as if looking for something.

"What is it?" Tom enquired as Janeway's finger made it to her lips, silencing him without a single word. Tom listened along with her now, and at first he heard nothing, just the slight hum from the lamp behind him, and the ever present throng from Voyagers engines. Now tuning into that noise he realised that something was indeed wrong. Normally Voyagers engines sounded smooth constant, but now the pitch was higher and wavering. Before Tom could voice his thoughts on the matter Janeway had reached for her communicator, its chirp reverberating around the cargo bay.

"Janeway to engineering, B'elanna what's going on down there." Janeway's voice was clipped but not yet panicked, her chief engineer had not thought the situation bad enough to call her, and so far the ship was still making its way though the Delta quadrant.

"Not sure yet captain, but I think it maybe as simple as we are running low on fuel I suggest we cut all main power apart from life support, we need to get to a planet and find supplies." B'elanna, replied, Tom noted that her voice, although held its usual clipped tone also contained a slight air of urgency, one Janeway was obviously going to take seriously.

"Janeway to Chacotay, I want you to issue orders to everyone we are now flying on minimal power only, everything goes except life support, we will run sensor sweeps every half an hour for two minutes, and head for the nearest M class world." Janeway said not even bothering to issue a goodbye to her chief engineer before getting in contact with her XO. Janeway was sure B'elanna probably wouldn't even have noticed, and getting this ship and her crew safe was Janeway's main priority.

"Understood, I will also move the crew into a few decks so we can shut down life support to the others." Chacotay replied as Janeway headed for the door. Tom followed her quickly switching off the lamp and casting them into almost complete darkness, now only the green emergency lighting illuminated their way as Janeway told Chacotay that she would be arriving on the bridge shortly.

Walking though Voyagers corridors Janeway could sense Tom just behind her, she knew she didn't have to talk to him, no orders would have to be issued and no conversation needed. The darkness was almost a God send right now, for Janeway knew if Tom could see her face he would ask her if she was ok, and right now she was far from ok, in fact Janeway wasn't even sure if she would even see ok again. Stepping onto the turbo lift she waited until Tom was inside before she barked the order for the lift to take them to the bridge. As they began to move Janeway lent back against the wall and took in a deep breath, she surprised herself when her lips shook slightly and the exhale shuddered from her, looking over at Tom Janeway saw him looking right back at her. His eyes the only bit of him she could see clearly, were telling her that he wanted to ask her if everything was all right, yet he said nothing, the words stuck somewhere between is brain and his mouth. Just as his lips fell apart and Janeway stiffened ready to snap of the standard reply that she was fine the lift bucked, sending its occupants into the walls. Janeway felt her head snapped back connecting with the hard bulk head, dropping to her knees she felt the deck plates below her swing and sway as Voyager seemed to be spinning in space. Unable to recover her footing Janeway crawled on her hands a knees towards the control panel. Suddenly something hard and pointy smacked her in the side of her head. Taken down onto her back Janeway threw her arms up to cover her face as a flaying Tom Paris landed right on her midsection. Winded and still being thrown about by the turbo lift Janeway could only clutch at her stomach and pray that it would all stop soon.

Tom wasn't sure what had happened after he came crashing down on Janeway, all he could think was she was not a soft a landing as he had expecting. The wall that had also intercepted his head on the way to the floor had not helped with him remaining conscious, the world had blacked into a swaying world of pain, and now he could here his name being called. Checking to make sure everything was in working order, Tom was surprised to find it was. Allowing his eyes to slip open a crack Tom was then panicked by the total darkness that surrounded him.

"Oh God I'm blind!" Tom exclaimed reaching up to his face to rub his eyes, hoping to get them to work. Before he could get there however a pair of hands grasped his wrists, long tapering fingers held his hands away from his face. Their grip far stronger than the thinness of them would suggest, and what's more they were cold, for a moment in the total darkness Tom wondered if he had indeed died and this was the cold hand of death.

"Tom you are not blind its just dark in here, something has happened to Voyager."

Tom would have known that voice anywhere his body relaxed immediately, his hands dropped away from his face as Janeway's grip retreated and he could here shuffling coming from beside him.

"We need to get out of here and see what has happened, and make sure everyone else is ok." Janeway said her voice now coming from above him as Tom carefully got his feet. Reaching out in the darkness to find something to hold on to his hand came into connection with something soft and pliable. A soft grunt came and Tom snatched his hand away and muttered an apology, retreating backwards he finally connected with the wall as Janeway began moving in front of him again.

"What about the communicators?" Tom said suddenly, but before he could reach up and tap his own Janeway spoke up.

"No use I already tried, no one is answering, probably something wrong with them." Janeway said, she didn't need to air the thought of no one being left alive and able to reply, that thought right now was far to horrible, and a little dangerous.

"We need to get out of here, can you locate the hatch on top of the lift?" Janeway enquired in a not so subtle change of conversation, but right now Tom welcomed it. Reaching around Tom swayed slightly as his fingers met with the ceiling. His hands finally brushing the latch to the hatch, it was however to high for him to get a good grasp of it so he could open it. Stumbling slightly he threw out a hand and steadied himself against the wall.

"I can feel it, but I can't get a good hold, if I boost you up though, you might be able to get it open." Tom said slightly out of breath as his bruised ribs protested slightly at all the stretching.

"Ok get a good position and I will use the wall to steady myself." Janeway said her voice coming closer in the darkness.

At first it was just hard to get the balance with no vision what so ever, then once Janeway was up she couldn't quickly find the latch and they had to start again. It was like throwing a dart at a board from twenty feet away blind fold, and both of them were becoming exhausted by the effort.

"Ok this is ridiculous, we need to think of another way to do this." Janeway said finally, sitting on the ground and pulling her knees up to her chest. It was cold in the turbo lift, this suggested that something was wrong with Voyagers environmental controls, or worse, that somewhere she was venting atmosphear into space.

"How about you get on my shoulders and I can then walk around until you find the hatch." Tom suggested a moment later, Janeway remained silent for a moment it was risky, if they fell in that position they could be seriously hurt, on the other hand they had little option.

"Fine bend down slightly." Janeway said standing up and feeling around for Tom, going careful to avoid hitting any sensitive areas, still feeling slightly embarrassed by Tom's earlier mistake of thinking her right breast was a wall, she finally managed to find the right spot in the dark.

With some effort Tom got off his knees to his feet, it wouldn't have been so hard if it were not pitch black, and his ribs were not so sore, but right now even Janeway's light frame was causing him sufficient problems to send his balance off.

"Have you got it yet?" Tom huffed as he could feel her moving around on his shoulders.

"Yes I have it stop." Janeway called as Tom stood still as a rock, even as his knees began to shake. The sound of the hatch opening and the dim glow of the shaft lighting peaking in through the opening was like heaven as Janeway grasped on to the edge of the hatch and climbed up.

"How does it look?" Tom called as Janeway's face appeared in the gap.

"Not to bad, but an emergency bulk head has closed right above us, luckily we are only a few feet from the next level." Janeway said as she extended her hand downwards offering Tom help to get himself up. He took it gratefully as he heaved himself up and over the edge, for a moment he was breathless and Janeway said nothing to get him moving. She knew he needed time to recover, that he was probably covering up some injury, and for right now she would let him continue to pretend he was ok. There wasn't much she could have done for him anyway, Janeway thought as she surveyed the surrounding area, trying to gain as much information as she could. There was however little to no clue as to what had happened to Voyager. For Janeway was now sure it was the entire ship, and not just their turbo lift that had suffered some kind of disaster. She knew because Voyagers engines were silent, and everyone inside appeared to be silent as well.

"Ok it says here we are on deck eleven, we need to try and make it to the bridge, but if as I think, there has been some kind of disaster the computer would have locked it down, hence that emergency bulk head." Janeway said piercing the silence with her voice as Tom got off the floor and stood beside her.

"Then we should take the access conduits that run alongside the ships sensor systems, one opens out behind the oops console on the bridge." Tom suggested as he saw Janeway nod.

"Just what I was thinking Mr Paris, but first we had better get out of this lift shaft." Janeway smiled at him slightly, and Tom was grateful for the reassurance. He had no idea what lay beyond that door to deck eleven, is worst fear was that everyone else was gone, and they were the only two people left on Voyager, and yet they had to leave, they had to try and find the others and see if they could get Voyager going again. With his heart pounding in his chest, he watched as Janeway took the panel off the wall and pulled the manual release leaver. The door hissed open half way and then stopped, but it was just enough to see the carnage beyond.

TBC...

Hope you enjoyed that, will be attempting to update this week as actually have some time off. Thank you for reading XxX


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome back, as promised an update.

B'elanna awoke to a sticky tickling sensation on her nose, desperate to scratch it, she moved her right arm from its position below her fallen body and reached up to her face. Scratching the itch that she found there, she then looked down at her hand and was surprised by the crimson it was now painted with. Manoeuvring herself out from under the console she had rolled under, the chief engineer surveyed her engine room with a look of disgust. Fallen Padd's and broken conduits were lying strewn across the floor. One of the broken conduits was spilling liquid gas all around the room and B'elanna thought it was probably the reason for her somewhat slow reaction.

"Vorik, hello anyone." B'elanna called out but the only response she got was the hissing sound coming from the broken pipe.

"Where in the hell is everyone?" She exclaimed mainly to herself as she made her way over to the broken pipe with the intention of fixing it. Her foot then connected with something solid, but also kind of soft. Looking down the half Klingon wafted away the smoke and had to stop herself from letting out a scream. The hand that now covered her mouth was the one she had also cover in blood from her nose. Her lips and chin now stained the same blood red as the rest of her face, stared down at the lifeless dead eyes of Vorik.

For a moment the world seemed to stop, the hissing sound in her ears abated and the funnel of smog coming from the conduit faded away. Only the banging at the door behind her finally got B'elanna moving. Steeping slowly away from her fallen comrade as she moved towards the door.

"Hey can you here us, help we are trapped in here." A male voice was calling from the turbo lift doors as B'elanna realised why engineering as so deserted. She had sent half of her crew off to do maintenance, and the other half off to dinner while she and Voric were left to work undisturbed on the warp core.

"Hello I here you, who is in there?" B'elanna said holding her ear pressed tightly to the turbo lift door and listening for a reply.

"It's me Harry, I'm in here with Ayala, is that you B'elanna?" Harry said his voice holding back on the delight of being found as much as he could. B'elanna could still here it however even though the bulk head and she smiled.

"Hey guys ok I'm going to go and find my tool kit and get you out of there." She said making a beeline for her console but finding it empty. Looking around she finally found her tool box on the floor. It had slipped under some debris from the explosion and she fished it out carefully, avoiding the sparks coming from one of the power lines and standing upright again quickly.

Virtually running over to the door, B'elanna threw down her kit and extracted just what she needed. Within moments Harry and Ayala appeared, dishevelled but unhurt, both faces smiling at her gratefully before noticing what a mess engineering actually was.

"My god do you have any idea what happened?" Harry asked as he inspected B'elanna's nose much to her disapproval.

"No but Vorik is dead, and so is the warp core." B'elanna replied swatting Harry away as Ayala fixed the leaking conduit and the smoke finally started disappearing.

"Vorik, oh no." Harry said moving closer to the dead Vulcan but unable to take a good look at him he backed away quickly. Turning to his companions Harry looked around the room, and suddenly felt like it was spinning. Reaching out to hold onto something, he soon realised that it was not him, but Voyager was actually moving, slowly, quietly, but non the less moving.

"We need to get Voyagers engines back on line, there is only two things that could be making Voyager move." Harry said as B'elanna also seemed to be coming to the same conclusion. She had moved over to the warp core, picking up her tool kit on the way.

"What is that?" Ayala asked as Harry followed B'elanna and only took a quick glance back at the security officer.

"A planet, or a black hole." He said looking briefly down at his shoes before getting to work on the darkened console.

The bridge was dark, the only light coming from the flashes of electricity as the sparked from broken consoles, and exposed wires. Chacotay had to lean on his chair to help himself up. The pain in his right arm was pretty severe and he knew it was broken. Looking around at the state of the bridge he counted himself lucky to be alive. Turning now he noticed the rest of the bridge crew were starting to stir. Tuvok was the first to make it back to his station, and the dark Vulcan looked from his console and then back to Chacotay. From what Voyagers second officer could read in the Vulcan's face he knew the news was not good. It had taken Chacotay all of the two and a half years he had know the Vulcan to be able to read any change in him at all. But now the expression on his dark unmoving face was as clear as day.

"Report Mr Tuvok." Chacotay barked not knowing what else to do.

"Unclear commander, I have no readouts no telemetry, and no power to try and get the information either." The Vulcan replied, the slight timber in his voice suggested further exposition, but the Vulcan closed his mouth at the last moment and looked down at his commanding officer.

"Ok first priority is to get the power back on, or get in contact with someone who can." Chacotay said ripping off the sleeve on his uniform and creating a sling for his broken arm.

"Chacotay to the Capitan, Chacotay to engineering. Chacotay to anyone who can here me." As he listed the people Chacotay's voice took on more of an edge of panic. The thought of the entire crew being dead or injured so badly they couldn't reply, made is blood run like ice through his veins. Turning slowly to Tuvok Chacotay lent on the railings that separated the command deck from the stations behind.

"I guess we're on our own then."

Finally finding the right Geoffrey's tubes Janeway and Tom had crawled inside and began slowly pulling themselves along. It was slow going because of all the exposed piping and wires. Whatever had happened to Voyager had obviously impacted somewhere close to where they were now crawling.

"For the damage to be this deep inside the ship, it must have been something pretty big. My guess would be some kind of natural phenomenon." Janeway said as she rested against the side of the tube. It felt like they had been crawling for hours, and the pain in her head was starting to become more than a minor annoyance.

"Why do you say that, with the amount of damage it could have easily have been an attack." Tom said sitting down beside her and attempting to fold his long frame in to the narrow space.

"Because if it had been an attack, where is the boarding party, where are the bad people with big guns wanting to take the ship. No one in the Delta quadrant would take down Voyager and leave her to drift." Janeway replied with an angry certainty that Tom right at this moment in time could not argue with.

"Ok so what could have done this?" Tom pondered as they sat there, trying not to allow the cold to seep into their bones now they had stopped moving.

"There is only one thing I can think of, it was something I was reading about not that long ago. It was in the history of the Enterprise D. They once ran into a quantum filament, it knocked out all there power, almost brought down the entire ship, and they're almost impossible to detect." Janeway said her sentence trailing off at the end as Tom also braced himself against the wall. Voyager was moving again, but this time it felt different. There was no jarring, or bouncing, it was smooth silent, and very creepy trapped in the bowels of the ship.

Janeway moved first getting to her hands and knees she started to crawl for the end of the tube. Tom needed no encouragement to follow her, he ploughed forward forgetting about his ribs and the pain in his knees.

"What do you think is happening?" Tom called when Janeway reached the door and finally stopped at let Tom catch up. Janeway's sideways glance did not make Tom feel any better, he knew her well enough to know she was stalling. That she had something bad to say and didn't want to tell him.

"Are we falling?" Tom asked, willing to say it for her this one time and the subtle nod from Janeway's head was all Tom needed.

B'elanna knew there was a subtle difference between falling and being pulled, she could feel now as she tried to cold start the warp core, the ship turning slowly anti-clockwise as they fell towards something. It was almost certainly a planets gravity well, but what kind of planet was anybody's guess. She had not voiced her thoughts to her companions, they needed to concentrate right now, and Harry was already looking far to green around the gills.

"We need to get power to the bridge consoles, having engines and no one to fly us in the right direction will be pointless." Harry said finally, throwing his hyper spanner down and wiping sweat from his brow.

"Ok and how do you propose we do that, we have no power for the moment either." B'elanna said, agreeing with him secretly, but seeing no real way of accomplishing it.

"I guess we will have to dump raw power from the life support or environmental controls straight into the main bridge supplies." Harry said looking at the exposed wires coming from one of the walls.

"Easy access." he pointed out, but it did little to lift the half Klingons mood.

"Yeah and we fry every console on the bridge and possibly anyone standing close by along with them." B'elanna replied but she had to admit Harry's idea had merit.

"How about this, we reroute all the power we can into this oops console, then transfer it to the bridge panels, at least then we will be able to make sure we are well away from it if it explodes." She said turning towards Harry and Ayala in slight triumph as Voyager gave a slight shudder below their feet.

"I suggest whatever you are going to do, to do it quickly, we seem to be running out of time." Ayala said with a look of concern on his face as B'elanna gave a curt nod and began work on the exposed wires.

With no luck Chacotay and Tuvok returned to the centre of the bridge and looked at one another in silence. It was Chacotay who finally spoke up as Ensign Bennett turned from her seat at the helm and regarded them with scared eyes.

"There is no exit, all the emergency bulk heads are in place, there is no way off this bridge and no way on." Chacotay said his voice low so that he wouldn't scare the younger members of the bridge crew any more than they already had been.

"I concur, now we must find away to restore power to the bridge without leaving this room." Tuvok replied in his usual helpful way and Chacotay had to bite his lip to stop him shouting at the Vulcan.

"So how do we do that Commander?" He finally managed to squeeze out as Tuvok surveyed the damage on the bridge.

"Right now sir I do not see away, we have no power base to tap into, and no way of letting anyone know we are still alive up here to need it." Tuvok concluded, his monotone voice now starting to grate on Chacotay more that it normally did.

"So what we sit here and hope that someone thinks to help us, not sure I like the idea of that Tuvok." Chacotay said as he lent backwards and sat down in his chair.

"I believe it is our only option for now, anything else would be a futile waste of energy, and we have no idea if the life support unit was damaged in the accident." Tuvok said looking at the blank view screen before turning back to his commanding officer.

"Accident is that what we are calling it." Chacotay intoned at Tuvok raised his eyebrow and looked down at Chacotay.

"I think we can safely say there was no attack, we have been hit by something naturally occurring in this region of space, or some kind of stellar phenomenon. So accident would be a sufficient interpretation for what happened." The Vulcan never moved a facial muscle as he spoke and Chacotay lent forward in his chair taking in a deep breath.

"Tuvok you have an uncanny ability to talk." Chacotay's sentence was cut short by the flickering of lights on the helms console, both officers shot over as Ensign Bennett began tapping away at the controls and quickly brought the view screen back on line.

Looking at the image now, even the usually stoic Tuvok took in a slight gasp of breath as Chacotay's hand grasped hold of the chair in front of him.

Three words managed to slip from Chacotay's lips before the rest of the bridge crew looked up."My God no!"

Get used to the cliff hangers guys and thank you for reading XxX


	3. Chapter 3

I know I left the last chapter on a cliff hanger, but at least I didn't keep you waiting long.

Harry's face was one of sheer delight when he realised that someone was alive and well on the bridge, and using the helm console they had just managed to get going. B'elanna stepped forward and pushed the communications icon and preyed that they would finally know what was going on out there.

"Engineering to the bridge."

"B'elanna we need engines now!" Chacotay's voice came shouting down the comm line, there was no room for interpretation in the XO's tone, it was panic pure and simple.

"Chacotay what's going on?" B'elanna questioned even as Harry moved back over to the warp core and started working on it once more.

"Voyager is falling straight into a planet, we have no shields and no way of landing the ship safely." Chacotay replied, it was all B'elanna needed to get moving calling briefly to Chacotay that she was getting right on to it.

As far as Chacotay was concerned looking at the planet now almost filling the view screen, right now would not have been soon enough. Feeling helpless, only able to look at their impending doom Chacotay took in a deep shuddering breath.

"How long Ensign?" Chacotay asked in a dead pan voice, one he hoped Tuvok would be proud of.

"Seven minutes sir, give or take, that is assuming we survive re-entry." The Ensign's reply did not exactly fill the commander with hope, but at least it was the truth. As Chacotay looked around at the somewhat young crew, he realised that not one of them was panicking, or turning hysterical. Just like good Star fleet officers, they were facing their fate with a calm resignation. A fate Chacotay was hoping B'elanna could change. He also knew that if anyone could get them out of this one it was Voyagers chief engineer.

The door at the end of the Geoffrey's tube was harder to open than Janeway had predicted. Finally allowing Tom to give it a go, Janeway backed off down the tube a little bit and sat back on her haunches. Watching as Tom also struggled to open the hatch, the muscles on his arms standing out with the effort Janeway suddenly realised something.

"Tom stop!" she shouted just as the door began to give way. The suction beyond the hatch almost had them both wedged up against it. Between them they managed to close the tiny gap before the entire deck got sucked out into space. Huffing for breath and shivering with the cold they both collapsed against the now closed door.

"I guess we need to find another way out of here." Tom said looking briefly down at his Captain before he saw her smile. It was a tiny smile, the corners of her mouth rising only slightly before it was gone again. Tom was glad however, for that brief moment at least he had manage to lighten the mood. The moment was far briefer than either of them were expecting however as Voyager began to pitch and shake. Tossing them from one side of the Geoffrey's tube to another,Tom felt his already damaged ribs take another blow and it forced the breath from his lungs. Looking over at Janeway he saw her desperately trying to find something to hold on to, her fingers snatched at the hand hold on one of the panels, the fingers getting a grip then loosing it again, as Voyager bucked suddenly as though she had hit something. Tom did the only thing he could think of, reaching out and grabbing Janeway's hand he pulled her up to his body and wrapped his arm around the railing behind him. He felt Janeway wrap her arms around his waist as she clung on to him, her grip far fiercer than he imagined. Even in their tight embrace they were buffeted against one another and the side of the ship.

"I will never get them home." Janeway whispered, her voice however was loud enough for Tom to here and he gave her a reassuring pat as the roaring around them grew louder.

"She is going to tear herself apart." Tom called out above the noise of Voyagers decent and Janeway looked up at him, catching his attention with her eyes.

"It's been an honour serving with you Mr Paris." Her voice held an edge to it which suggested something deeper, like there was more she wanted to say but even now she could not utter the words.

"You to Kathryn, I would have liked it if we could have had more time." Tom replied thinking that if he didn't say something now, he would never get the chance. He never broke gaze with her as he spoke, and Janeway's eyes seemed to get impossibly wide.

"Time is something most of us are unaware of Tom, until it is running out that is, not everyone gets an opportunity to say something they would otherwise regret." It was now Tom's turn to let his eyes open wide and his mouth drop in unison, as Voyager bucked again and caused the two to almost clash heads. The almost silence that followed made Kathryn pause in her admission, but she knew he deserved to know.

"Tom thank you." At the last moment Kathryn decided that she could not do it, it was too cruel to both of them. Simply reaching up and placing a sweet kiss on his cheek, she watched as he closed his eyes and a small smile graced his features.

As Voyager crashed through the first layer of the planets atmosphere Chacotay braced himself in his seat. Looking across he noticed Tuvok do the same, although the expression on his face never wavered, the slight pulsing of his jaw alerted Chacotay to the fact that the Vulcan was not as calm as he wanted everyone to believe. For some reason Chacotay took comfort in this fact as Voyager began her decent towards the planet, the ripping of metal and cracking of bulkheads was loud in Chacotay's ears.

"Time to impact Ensign?" Chacotay enquired, he had not got back in contact with B'elanna, knowing it would only slow her down if she had to talk to him. The not knowing what was happening however was starting to drive him to distraction.

"Four minutes sir, but if we don't get engine's back online in two we wont be able to do anything about it anyway." Ensign Bennett replied as her hands flew over the helm, but it still did not respond to her commands.

"Then I guess we will just have to wait for B'elanna to come up with a miracle." Chacotay said half joking half praying that she could indeed pull it off.

"Commander I would just like to say it has been an honour to serve with you." Tuvok's words almost made Chacotay forget what was about to happen to them, it was so unexpected that Chacotay had to turn and look at the Vulcan who was now staring right at him.

"It has indeed been an honour Mr Tuvok, but lets not jump the gun just yet a, I would prefer to live long and prosper, as you are so fond of saying." Chacotay said with a rye smile as Tuvok raised his eyebrow back at him and inclined his head.

"Indeed."

Just as the word was uttered Voyagers engines roared to life, the noise seemed to rip through the bridge like a stiff wind. Chacotay was off his seat within moments, helping the young Ensign at the helm to steady Voyager as she plummeted downwards.

"Engine's full reverse, use the landing thrusters if you have to, we must slow the ship down. Bow thrusters to maximum, get her nose level or we will have no chance." Chacotay barked as he hit the comm button.

"B'elanna we need more power, we're not slowing down fast enough." He shouted as Voyager shook with the effort of deceleration.

"I can't Chacotay, we have a major hull breach on deck ten, if I give you more power she will literally tare herself apart." B'elanna replied as even now she was increasing the engine out put, if only by a few militates it may make difference.

"If we don't slow her down we will break into a million pieces so more power we have to risk it." Chacotay said, not for the first time wishing the Captain was here. Right now though he was in command and by God he was going to land this ship if it killed him.

Harry held on for dear life as Voyager shook and groaned as B'elanna gave Chacotay all the power she could give him. The noise in the engine room was almost frightening, B'elanna found herself thinking about the marquis. Wondering what would have happened if she had not been thrown all the way out here. Maybe she could be still making a difference, fighting the good fight. There was a certain amount of regret there, but as much as she regretted leaving, she also realised that she had truly made a difference to this crew and to herself, and that at least she knew she could live, or perhaps die with.

Harry sank to the floor as he felt Voyager begin to finally slow down, he knew the time of reckoning would soon be upon them. Voyager would have to land, and she was not exactly in the best of condition right now. Harry thought about his parents, they would never know what had happened to him, never know of his accomplishments on this journey. The thought made him sad, he didn't want to go out like this, in some freak accident, it all seemed so meaningless, and yet he still felt a certain pride about how far he had come in the last few years, how much he had grown. Harry's only regret would be that no one he had ever known back on Earth would know about their story, but Harry also realised that nearly everyone that mattered to him was on this ship, coming together once more to get Voyager safely home, and they all knew how much they had achieved on this journey. Harry gave B'elanna a small nod as she looked over her shoulder at him as they impacted the ground.

Tom felt Voyager hit all the way down to his bones, holding on to Janeway like she was the only thing keeping him from dying, both of them rose towards the ceiling as Voyager plummeted once more. Heads cracking the roof of the Geoffrey's tube Janeway lost her grip on Tom's waist as she tried to protect her head from the hard metal that surrounded them. Tom reached out and managed to capture her upper arm as Voyager hit again, crashing them into the floor and pounding Tom's shoulder and whipping his head backwards. In all this he didn't let go of Janeway. He knew if Voyager survived this, whatever crew remained would need their Captain Hell Tom needed her, now more than ever after what he had seen in her eyes just before she kissed him.

"Tom hold on." Janeway called as she grabbed hold of the railing with her free hand and steadied herself. She knew what was coming, someone was obviously alive and had managed to get Voyagers engine's going, but not in enough time to prevent a crash landing. The final jolt was harsh and crashed Janeway into Tom's side once more. The deck plates below them bucked and kicked, throwing them around enough for both to loose their grip. At the last moment Tom's hand snatched hold of Janeway's, stopping her free fall into the bowls of the ship as Voyager came to a juddering halt.

It took a few moments for both of them to realise that they had made it, that they were down and still alive. The only task now was to get out and find out who else had managed to survive.

"Can you move?" Janeway asked Tom as he sat up slowly, not knowing witch part of his body to hold first. He was pretty sure now that at least one of his ribs was broken, and he had bad whip lash from smacking against the bulk head.

"Yeah I think so are you ok?" Tom said looking up at her and suddenly noticing the blood that was now trickling down the side of her face. Janeway reached up and swiped at it absently looking only briefly at the blood that now stained her fingers.

"I'm fine, we need to see how the rest of the crew is doing." She said quickly getting to her hands and knees and making for the door they had previously slammed closed.

"Shouldn't be a problem now we are down." She said holding onto the manual release handle and pulling. Tom decided not to mention the fact that they had no idea about what kind of atmosphere this planet had. He decided if it was not breathable, dying right now may not be such a bad thing.

Kathryn took one last deep breath before pulling open the door, what she saw beyond the confines of their tube made her gasp for breath .

TBC.. I did warn you about the cliffhangers, thank you for reading XxX


	4. Chapter 4

Welcome back, thank you for all the lovely reviews they are very much appreciated.

Onwards

Chakotay lifted himself gingerly off the floor, his arm hurt like hell but he had to make sure the rest of the bridge crew were ok. His eyes first landed on Tuvok who clearly wasn't ok. A large piece of metal stuck out from his side and he appeared to be unconscious, shuffling over to his fallen comrade Chakotay called for assistance. Ensign Bennett was first on the scene, she seemed to Chakotay uninjured as she grabbed a med kit from the wall and began scanning the Vulcan.

"I don't have much medical training sir, but I think the Commander has internal bleeding from a laceration to his liver." The Ensign said putting away the medical tricorder and looking up at Chakotay with a worried expression. As the Commander gently touched the metal embedded on Tuvok's side he realised that all the other members of the bridge crew had began to gather around.

"We need to get out of here, even if we have to cut a hole through the exterior bulk head." Chakotay barked knowing with something to do, it might take their minds off their current situation.

"Do we know anything about this planet Ensign?" Chakotay asked her as the young woman gave Tuvok a hypo spray.

"To help for the pain." The Ensign explained as she replace the hypo spray and turned to the now wrecked helm.

"Well it's defiantly M class." She said looking down at her hands that were resting on Tuvok's shoulder.

"How can you be so sure?" Chakotay replied as the sound of a plasma cutter could now be heard cutting through the metal on Voyagers exterior wall.

"Because right before we landed sir, I got definite readings of life signs."

B'elanna felt pretty light headed as she picked herself off the floor and dusted what she could off her uniform. She looked over to see that Harry was also getting to his feet and she gave him a week smile. Turning she could see Ayala starting to stir, first rolling over on to his stomach and then getting to his knees.

"You ok?" B'elanna asked moving over to him now and offering him a hand. The security officer gave her more of a grimace than a smile but he did take her offer of help.

"Could be better, but I guess we are all lucky to be alive." He said finally finding his feet as Harry came over to stand beside them, scanning the engine room and thinking about their next move.

"We need to get out of here." He said not thinking twice before saying it out loud. Unsurprisingly no one disagreed with him.

"Ok, we know there is a hull breach on deck ten, that would be the easiest way off the ship, but whether we can get there is another question." B'elanna said picking up her tool kit and making for the Jeffreys tube.

"Do you not think we should try and get to the bridge, or to the mess hall." Ayala said as B'elanna half disappeared into the tunnel.

"The bridge will be locked down, we would never get though, as for the mess hall its twelve decks away, just getting to the end of this one will be a mission. Maybe we can get out side and rig some kind of remote transporter." B'elanna said looking at Harry, whose mind was already working on the idea.

"We will need a quick pit stop at transporter room six, but I think we can do it, as long as the equipment isn't too damaged." Harry said crawling behind B'elanna through the tube, it soon became clear however that getting anywhere in the wreckage that was Voyager was going to be difficult.

The debris that littered the tubs was either sharp, hot or heavy, or varying combinations of the three. Moving it all out of the way so they could open each hatch, and get further along the tube was slow going. On their travels they had also heard nothing from the rest of the crew. Not a single member of the 146 people on Voyager had crossed their path and now finally they had made it to deck twelve and out into the open.

"Well at least this part of the ship doesn't look to bad." Ayala said as he pulled himself from the tube and stood next to B'elanna. The corridor was only partially blocked, no exposed wiring was coming from the walls, but there was a subtle sound of hissing coming from somewhere close. Harry and B'elanna gave one another a knowing look before taking off towards the transporter room.

Tom shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight that poured through the opening in the hatch. They had only been a few meters from open space at one point, and he now preyed silently thanking whoever was watching over them that day.

"My god." Janeway exclaimed as she stepped carefully from Voyager and placed her foot on the Earth of what might be her new home. Tom pulled himself out alongside her and looked at the damaged. It became clear now that they had all been extremely lucky that day. The hole in Voyagers starboard side ran from the centre at deck ten upwards and backwards until finally terminating at around deck seven just before the nacelle.

"We need to see who else is alive." Janeway said not wanting to think or even look at the damage to her ship. It was for her like looking at a loved one, bleeding and helpless. Janeway also suspected that it was the same for Tom. His face told a thousand stories as he looked from one end of the downed ship to the other.

"Where should we start?" Tom said turning around and seeing Janeway lent against a rock, her hand was holding her forehead as she held up the other to wave him off.

"I am ok, I think everything finally caught up with me is all." Janeway felt Tom's presence before she felt his gentle touch on her shoulder. The reassurance was out of her mouth almost as quickly, but she could tell from the pressure of his hand he did not believe her.

Tom looked down at the Capitan, he pushed away the thoughts from when they had been inside the tube and made himself concentrate on helping her now.

"I think we should try and get to the Doctor, we know there must still be people alive, because they landed the ship, but I bet there are lots hurt, we will need him." Tom said thinking logically as Janeway raised her head and nodded once quickly.

"Ok, but maybe we should think logically about this, going through the ship will take forever, we should try and traverse the side using the hole to get to deck six." Janeway said pointing up towards there intended target. It was probably a hundred feet in the air they and no climbing gear and no safety equipment.

"Its suicide Kathryn." Tom said to her looking back over at her as she began to find footholds in the side of Voyager.

"If it gets too tough we will just climb inside a deck. At least we will be closer." Janeway called down as she was already ten feet in the air. Tom had no choice but to follow her, he knew he had to keep her safe, but doing that appeared to be a full time job.

About a quarter of the way up Tom was getting the hang of it, he was following in Janeway's path. She had a kind of go along then up approach, waiting for the next easiest place to climb then going for it.

"You make this look easy, and I've been climbing for years." Tom called as Janeway made it to the next deck. They were already by Tom's calculations on deck seven, and as Janeway's foot disappeared over the edge her head reappeared.

"Many hours of climbing trees on my parents farm as a child. No ropes or pulleys then either." She said offering him a hand over the edge as Tom took it gratefully and looked back down.

"Yeah well I would prefer to have the ropes." Tom said as he spotted movement below. Pulling on Janeway's arm he got her attention as she also saw several people climb out of the breach on deck ten. So far she did not see any of the bridge crew, but she knew they would be stuck up there, probably trying to cut a hole in the bulkhead. It was then they saw Nelix helping to carry a stretcher form the bowels of the ship. He looked himself unharmed but the crew member they were transporting seemed to be in bad shape.

"Your plan to go for the Doctor seems to be the correct choice." Janeway said looking up once more, but not spotting a good place to climb up.

"We may have to walk it form here." She said looking down once more, so happy to see her crew or at least some of them safe and sound. Tom looked at her briefly before looking behind him at the carnage that lay there.

"Going to be easier said than done I think." Tom said as Janeway stood up and Tom followed suit.

"When has anything out here been easy Mr Paris." Janeway said with a small smile as she tossed away some debris. Tom could only smile back as they began to clear themselves a path.

Chakotay was immensely relieved when Tuvok finally opened his eyes, the relief however was short lived as the Vulcan turned to him slowly and looked deep beyond what Chakotay thought was his face.

"Do not move Tuvok, we will have you out of here as soon as possible." Chakotay tried to reassure him but the dark Vulcan, as usual was already well aware of this fact.

"Moving would indeed be highly unwise at this moment." Tuvok replied, but even he for a instant could not keep the pained look from his face. Chakotay reached immediately for the hypo spray, but Tuvok waved him off.

"No I will meditate to ease the pain, my body will heal faster that way." Tuvok said but Chakotay could tell that the Vulcan was simply trying to save supplies.

"You and Kathryn are sometimes so alike its scary." Chakotay said with a hint of a smile as Tuvok closed his eyes once more and attempted to meditate.

Before Chakotay could dwell to long, a voice came from behind him, causing him to get up to quickly and jar his injured arm.

"Commander, we are through."

B'elanna couldn't believe their luck when they found most of the transporter room in tacked. All they needed really was some power.

"I think there are a couple of generators in cargo bay two. We could probably get there easier from the outside though." Harry said picking up all he needed to make a remote pad.

"B'elanna had most of the electronics, while Ayala carried the heavy deck plating needed to create a base. They all filed out of the door and walked along the corridor. Hoping that maybe they would be easier than crawling through the Jeffreys tubes with nearly half a tonne of equipment.

For a while the going was easy, just a few bulkheads and furniture littered the hallways on this part of the ship. As they drew closer however to the main breach on deck ten the conditions grew worse.

"I suggest we stash the stuff here and clear away all the wreckage from here to the opening, then come back for it." Ayala said huffing for breath and having to place down his heavy cargo. B'elanna had to agree with him. Lugging this heavy stuff through deck after deck of Voyager was taking a toll on their already beaten and bodied bodies.

"Ok we go for the exit, see if we can't get some help to get this stuff out." B'elanna said finally pushing herself off the wall she was resting on and moving forward. This time without the heavy gear. Moving the debris away was much faster going now, and after what seemed like both a lifetime and an instant they were looking at the bright sunshine of the planet they had landed on. Better than that however were the faces of other Voyager crew members.

B'elanna stepped out first followed by Harry and Ayala brought up the rear. There had to be fifty or more Voyager crew all looking at them. For a moment there was silence, then a round of applause filled the valley they were stood in. Only able to stand and blush B'elanna looked around at her friends and smiled.

Janeway and Paris pushed open the doors to sickbay. It was surprisingly undamaged, there was a lot of mess, but it seemed pretty superficial. Scanning the area Tom finally spotted the Doctor's remote transmitter. It had fallen off it's usual stand and Tom hoped this was a good sign.

"Maybe he was downloading himself into when it fell." He said to Janeway who took it from him and activated the programme. The flickering of the Doctors form was one of the most wonderful sights Janeway had ever seen. His face looking back at them in confusion, now turned to anger at the state of his sickbay.

"What on earth happened?" He said but Janeway and Paris had no intention of answering him right at this moment.

"No time for that now Doc, all you need to know is there are a lot of crew members in need of your assistance." Tom said and the Doctor quickly set about his business.

"What kind of injuries are we talking about?" He asked as Janeway and Paris helped him gather all the things he would need.

"Not sure yet Doctor, but we must be prepared for anything. Also we will have to go to them, I am afraid the ship is badly damaged."Janeway replied stuffing all she could into a med kit and then that into a large case.

"Great, any less information you want to share with me." The Doctor said as the three of them made their way out of sick bay and hurried along the path Janeway and Tom had cleared earlier.

"Nothing except how we have to get out of the ship." Tom said finally coming to a halt at the vast expanse of sky and mountains before them. The Doctor looked down and swallowed hard.

"Ok are you ready, seems like there are more crew down there now, I am sure they will be grateful of your expertise." Janeway said knowing that the doctor always fell for a good ego rub, as she and Tom exchanged knowing looks between them.

The Doctor looked down at the drop once more before turning to his companions.

"You know I'm a Doctor not a monkey."

TBC... Thank you for reading XxX


	5. Chapter 5

I know its been a while had to work apologies, hope you are all still enjoying.

Onwards

It was in fact much more difficult getting down than it had been getting up. Tom and Janeway had descended very slowly, finally agreeing after just one deck to carry the Doctor in his remote emitter for the rest of the journey. Janeway had finally snapped after the last comment about his matrix not being able to handle this kind of stress, she had shut him off and shoved him down her boot. Tom had only just managed to suppress a smile, but the look of disdain on Janeway's face soon had him concentrating on the job at hand. Finally they were low enough to here B'elanna and Harry shouting at them to be careful, and giving them advice on the next best place to put their feet.

Panting slightly and still suffering from various injuries the pair finally reached the ground, only to be bombarded with a thousand questions. Most of which neither of them could answer. The best course of action Janeway could think of was to pull out the Doctor and turn him back on.

"And what's more I have no desire, hey what happened?" The Doctor said without taking a breath as he looked around at the majority of Voyager's crew.

"We made it Doc." Tom supplied as he took a perch on a nearby rock and held his protesting ribs. Luckily this seemed to snap the Doctor out of his tirade before it began. He took out one of his medical tricorder and started scanning Tom's ribs.

"I am afraid Mr Paris that you have a fracture of the forth rib and it will need repairing." He said flipping the instatement closed and turning around as Nelix came through the crowd.

"Oh Doctor am I glad to see you, we have quite a few injured crewmen who need your help. We have set up a kind of sickbay over here." The Talaxian said with a brief smile at Janeway as he caught the Doctor by the arm and started steering him towards the makeshift shelter they had erected. Janeway almost breathed a sigh of relief until B'elanna and Harry finally managed to get themselves through the rest of Voyager's crew.

"Captain, we need to talk." B'elanna said in a tone which told Janeway everything she needed to know. Nodding to Tom quickly the four of them walked a little way from the crowd. Moving along the hull of the ship as she sat there now, silent a broken. Her shadow however was providing shade from the heat of the day.

"Ok tell me." Janeway said after they had gone sufficient distance so not to be overheard.

"Well I think it is fairly obvious we are in bad shape." B'elanna said giving Janeway an I'm not patronizing you but I do need you to know this look.

"Agreed, but the question is now can we fix it?" Janeway replied knowing exactly what B'elanna was saying, but she wasn't quite ready to give up just yet.

"My gut says no, we have too little raw materials to even start, we were running on Dilithium vapour before all this happened, getting enough even to turn on the lights would be a struggle. Let alone the amount of alloy we would need to fill that hole." B'elanna said exasperated, she knew Janeway didn't want to just give up, but she was asking the impossible.

"What if we could find some of these materials, would it be possible?" Janeway asked starting to think up a plan as they walked almost the entire length of Voyager.

"Capitan, unless we happened to crash land on a Dilithium mine that was less than twenty feet below the surface, and was full of maybe a few hundred tones of ore, there is no way we can get Voyager to fly again. Every system is damaged, every wire is fused. We would have to rebuild her from the ground up. While she is in a hole in the ground." B'elanna had stopped walking, Harry stood next to her his head hung low. Tom was just to Janeway's left and he was looking at her with a pensive face. Janeway took in a deep breath and looked from one face to another. She knew this might be it, the moment where she had to make a decision to stay. To finally say enough, let her crew settle down and make a life from themselves here. The pull to do just this was strong. B'elanna thought it was certainly the only option, and Harry just looked resigned to their fate. It was then Janeway's eyes passed over Tom's expression. It was telling her not to give up, that he hoped she would keep on fighting. Not just for their sake but her own as well, to settle on this planet would kill her, not quickly, not even slowly, but piece by piece until there was nothing left.

"No I refuse to believe we are beaten, we have been in tough situations before, we got through them, and we will get through this one to. As soon as we are able we will go scouting around the planet, you never know we may get lucky, even if we can just get one of the shuttles up and running we have a chance." Janeway replied finally feeling a little bit better as she saw Harry's eyes lift to her own and his back straighten.

"I will take a contingency of able crew members back into Voyager and see what we can salvage. We have already started work on a remote transporter." Harry began as they made a start on walking back to where the other members of the crew were still gathered. Janeway's ears pricked up at this and she asked Harry to tell her more. The young Ensign did just that, the smile for now returning to his face as Janeway listened to him, unbeknown to the now excited Harry that she was preying she had not filled all their heads with false hope.

Chacotay looked down at the nearly two hundred foot drop to the ground as he peered through the hole they had cut in Voyagers bridge. There was no way any of them were going to make it down in one piece, and certainly not Tuvok, who was in and out of consciousness, and looking more pale by the minute.

"Ok any ides?" Chacotay said turning to the gathered crowd behind him, all that looked back at him however were blank faces.

"Do we have anything we could use as a rope?" Chacotay suggested, but he suspected he already knew the answer to that.

"No sir, and the exits are all still locked up tight, the only way out of here is through that hole." Lieutenant Reynolds said pointing to the daylight that lay before Chacotay. It was a dilemma, they had away out but it was piratically fatal. Chacotay stood up then, he looked round at his crew and knew he needed to be strong for them now. He had to be a leader just like Janeway was, go with his gut and believe.

"Ok grab all the wiring you can. The longer the better, then find something solid to secure it to." Chacotay said going over to a panel and ripping of the cover. Reaching inside he began to tare at the wiring, foot after foot of it came out of the insides of the ship, all Chacotay could hope was that they could eventually repair it. Right now getting out was their main priority.

"Come on we aren't going to last long up here." Chacotay said noticing that the rest of them were reluctant to tare out bits of their ship. After his words they soon began moving however, after all they were still Star Fleet officers and they followed orders. Chacotay allowed himself a small smile right before he saw Ensign Bennett looking at him out of the corner of his eye. For a moment he had forgotten about her little admission earlier, until now that was. He knew he would have to deal with it sooner or later, but now was not the time. If there were indeed people on this planet they would have to deal with that bridge when they came to it.

Harry had taken five crewmen with him to do a re-con of the ship, leaving B'elanna and some engineers to set up the remote transporter. Janeway was left with the help of Tom try and fix their communicators. With so little to work with it was slow going, any tools would have been helpful, but as it was they had to use Janeway's hair pins to get inside the communicators. Tom was the first to get inside the device, he was making several cuss words under his breath as he fiddled with the delicate mechanisms inside.

"You know they should teach this at the academy, stranded on a planet, no power, no tools and in a different quadrant." Tom's tone was harsh, and it made Janeway stop what she was doing, she looked over at him and saw the look of anguish on his face. The warning she was about to issue him died on her lips at that moment and she let her hands fall into her lap.

"I don't think any amount of training could have prepared us for this, but I couldn't have asked for more from any of you." Tom also stopped and looked up at his Captain, he had forgotten that she had just been told that several members of her crew had not made it, and that so far none of the bridge crew had been seen or heard from.

"We will get out of this one, everyone still wants to get home, it might take a long time, but hey I have no intention of never flying again." Tom said with a small smile as he returned to his communicator and it finally beeped into life.

"Ta Da!" He exclaimed before hitting it and calling for Chacotay.

The man in question was tying a knot around his waste when Tom's voice came over his communicator.

"My god am I glad to here you Paris." Chacotay said putting down the makeshift rope and smiling at all the people looking at him.

"I have the Captain with me, and most of the crew." Tom said before Janeway got in the middle and interrupted their happy reunion.

"Chacotay, how is everyone, and do you have any idea about where we are?" Chacotay used the second question to avoid the first. He did not want to tell Janeway about Tuvok until he had to.

"No Captain, but I do have to tell you that before we crashed we found life signs on the planet, not far from where we went down." Chacotay could hear the pause in her voice and the slight intake of breath, which Chacotay suspected came from Tom.

"Ok well we will have to think about that one later, first we need to get you all out of there. We are setting up a remote transporter, so don't try anything silly, like absailing down the side of the ship on bits of wire. We will get you out of there as soon as we can." Janeway said and Chacotay shook his head. Sometimes that woman was scary.

"Ok but make it as fast as possible, its Tuvok he is hurt." Chacotay stopped there, he didn't really have any more information to give her anyway, what was wrong with him was only guess work, and he didn't want to worry her more than he had to.

"We will be as quick as possible, make sure that stubborn old Vulcan takes his medicine, he isn't getting out of work that easily." Janeway's words were light, but Chacotay could here the worried tone in her voice none the less.

"I will and make sure you keep me informed." Chacotay said as Janeway hung her head slightly before turning to Tom and giving him a small nod of thanks.

"Let's go and see how they are getting on with that transporter, I don't think they have very long up there." Janeway said not coming right out and saying she didn't think Tuvok had very long. Her silence afterwards told Tom all he needed to know.

Janeway was grateful that it was Tom who was with her now, he had a natural ability not to overreact to bad news. He knew when to be quite and when to offer support, and right now that was exactly what she needed.

Half an hour, half an hour of waiting for the transporter to be ready, it seemed like longer somehow, like time itself had slowed to make Janeway have to wait just that little bit longer. As soon as it was ready however they locked on to Tuvok's comm badge and beamed him down. Janeway stood back and let the Doctor do his work, she could see the long piece of metal sticking out from his side, but also his eyes, still alert and looking at her as she nodded to him once. It was all she needed for now, as one by one the bridge crew were beamed down. Chacotay was the last, now de-materializing before her, Janeway gave him a warm smile.

"I thought the Captain should be the last one off the ship." She said with a small smile which Chacotay returned in kind.

"I think we can let this one slip." He replied but there was in reality no time for the pleasantries. In the time it had taken to get the transporter up and running, Janeway had formulated a plan. She knew Chacotay would not like it, but she also knew this was how it would have to be done.

"I have come up with a cause of action. There is a lot to be done here. First building a shelter, and finding food and water. Tending to the wounded and salvaging what we can from Voyager. For now the rest can wait. I need you to make sure all these things get done." Janeway said, her Captain's voice now returning with full authority as she surveyed her crew, already making a start on her earlier commands.

"Of course but where will you be. Actually I think I already know." Chacotay said as Tom walked up to them and handed Janeway a tricorder and she flipped it open. It had limited power, but it worked as Chakotay looked down at it he could see that at least they would have some form of finding their way back.

"I have to go and find out who else is on this planet, if they have warp capabilities, then our troubles could be over. If not well maybe they have things we could trade. In the end better to find them, than they find us." Janeway said taking the small back pack from Tom, who also carried one. Chacotay frowned when he looked around and saw no one else approaching.

"May I suggest Capitan that you take some security with you just in case things get nasty." He said but Janeway's head was shaking before he had even finished his sentence.

"We can move faster and quieter with just the two of us. This is a re-con mission Chacotay, look see and gather information. A smaller group is far less likely to be spotted, I understand your concerns, but I need you to be here and see that the crew is safe." Janeway said tightening the strap around her waist and looking up at Chacotay with a resound look.

"Aye Capitan, we will be here when you get back." Chacotay replied knowing that once Kathryn Janeway had made up her mind there was no going back.

With a final nod and a small wave from Tom the pair set of into the woods that surrounded the clearing that Voyager had landed in. Chacotay watched them until he could no longer see either of them through the thickness of the undergrowth. For some reason he had a bad feeling about this in the pit of his stomach. Dismissing it as simple worry for his Captain he turned and walked back to where everyone else had started to set up camp, intent on following his orders.

TBC... Thank you for reading XxX


	6. Chapter 6

Greetings everyone, and thank you so much for all your reviews, they have inspired me to write tonight even though I should be working, or sleeping, or probably some of both.

Onwards:

It was hot in the forest, hotter than either Janeway or Tom had bargained for. It was Tom who stopped first and stripped off down to his under shirt. Stuffing his uniform tunic into his backpack, looking back up to the blue eyes of Janeway who had a small smirk on her face. Tom furrowed his brow slightly before clipping up his pack once more with a slight wince.

"You know I am sure the Doc did a patch job on my ribs you know." Tom said now watching as Janeway too removed her tunic and placed it in her pack.

"Probably to pay you back for all those missed sickbay shifts." She replied without any hit of humour in her voice. Tom knew however if at this moment he could see her face, it would be grinning. Choosing simply to huff as a reply to Janeway's observation Tom quickly picked up the pace again, ploughing on through the now pretty dense forest.

"How far do you think?" Tom asked after a while, it seemed like they had been walking forever, but it was pretty slow going. The trees and undergrowth made it difficult to maintain any kind of speed, and now the sweat was rolling down Tom's back and making his skin itch. Thankfully Janeway chose to stop and answer Tom's question. He knew she was hot and tired too, but she would never say it, let alone give in and stop without good reason. Checking the readouts on her tricorder seemed to be a good enough excuse.

"I am not sure, the sensors on this are pretty week, but I am sure there are life signs up ahead. Lots of them, just can't be sure on how far." Janeway replied wiping her arm across her fore head and trying to remove the sweat that clung there. She gave Tom a slight raise of the eyebrows as she caught him watching her.

"Next time you decide to go on a little hike through the forest Captain may I suggest you take someone else, someone who is used to two hundred degrees of heat." Tom said as he watched Janeway continue her trek through the forest. Only her back was visible to him now, but he could not miss her reply.

"Oh but Mr Paris it would not be the same."

B'elanna couldn't believe how hot it had gotten here on the planet. Most of her crew were down to the bare minimum of clothing. As she looked up now from underneath a broken plasma unit she couldn't help but think of Voric. He would be helping her now, dressed in full uniform, not a bead of sweat on him. The thought made her sad, sadder than she would have ever believed while the annoying little Vulcan was alive. Glad that at that moment Harry and his team decided to return. They were pulling behind them what looked like a side panel from one of the ships corridors. Pulling herself up B'elanna gave Harry a big smile when she saw all the things they had managed to collect on their travels.

"Hey Star fleet looks like we have some good salvage going on here." B'elanna said inspecting the bounty and immediately latching onto the portable generator. Harry sat down straight in the dirt, he was far too hot and tired for finding a good rock.

"That's the only one still in operation, but we also managed to salvage some components to fix the other one." Harry replied poking his thumb backwards at the rest of the pile of stuff.

"Good well I think the first thing to do is get some cooler air in sick bay, and the adjoining rooms, we have to have somewhere we can get out of this heat." B'elanna said knowing that for now at least staying cool, and healthy was far more important than getting her plasma injector unfrozen. It wasn't like Voyager needed them any time soon. Offering Harry her hand, B'elanna pulled the young man from his seated position.

"So any ideas on how we are going to fix that hole?" She smiled at him before Harry could utter any protest at being made to stand again. Harry to his credit for a moment did truly think about B'elanna's question, only to look back down at her with a slightly resigned look.

"None, yet."

When Janeway first spotted the settlement she could hardly believe her eyes, it was there like an oasis in the desert, suddenly the forest ended and there was a huge city.

"Well its not exactly what I was expecting." She whispered as several people rode past on what looked like horses.

"No, me either but then I guess I wasn't really expecting anything." Tom replied peering though the foliage they had currently hidden behind. Janeway pulled out her tricorder and started scanning the area, Tom watched on in silence as he looked upon the scene before him. A great wall stood around what looked like a city. Higher up beyond where he could see clearly was a castle of sorts, people milled about in the surrounding market, and many had things to buy and sell.

"Its like Camelot." Tom said in slight awe as Janeway gave him a puzzled look.

"Don't you dare tell me you have never heard the stories of King Arthur and Camelot." Tom hissed as another horde of people on horses rode past.

"No I have heard of it, I think, but I am sad to say Mr Paris I do not have your love affair with pre historic fairy tales." Janeway retorted going back to her tricorder and hearing Tom huff as she did so.

"It's not a fairy tale, well most people think it wasn't and look here, right out of the pages of history we have found a place just like it." Tom said now unable to contain his excitement, as Janeway clamped a hand over his mouth. Two girls had walked over to just where they were crouched, both seemed to be carrying what looked like baskets of fruit. Tom immediately stopped trying to talk through Janeway's hand and sank lower into the brush. Knowing that Tom was now going to be quite Janeway removed her hand and listened to the girls conversation.

"They say the great fireball means change, I'm not sure myself I think it was just another excuse for us to keep on fighting."

"Yeah maybe, but its not everyday you see something like that. I heard that Micah was going to see if what ever it was crashed on the other side of the great forest."

Janeway couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her mouth, it was now Tom's turn to silence her, pulling her close and down to the floor as the girls turned in their direction.

"Did you here that?" one of them asked, their voice sounding terribly close now as Tom could feel Janeway's heart thumping beneath her chest. All Tom could do right now though was hope that they weren't discovered.

"It was probably just the wind, come on, we had better get these things to papa before the market is over." With that the two girls left. Tom felt Janeway wiggle in his grasp and he let go quickly, not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it already was. As soon as Janeway saw that the girls were out of ear shot she turned to Tom.

"We have to stop them from finding our camp, you know the rules on non interference, and this culture is clearly not warp capable." Janeway said looking around for any more observers but found none.

"Ok and how do you suggest we do that?" Tom said not disagreeing with her, but it was going to be hard hiding a bloody great ship.

"We will have to go in, distract them somehow, look I know they might be living in the dark ages, but they are making swards and armour and according to my tricorder the metal alloy they are using contains dilithium." Janeway said handing Tom the instrument for conformation . Tom looked at it but he didn't doubt her diagnostics skills for one moment, this could mean escape from this planet, or something else. Tom didn't want to dwell on that as Janeway reached into her backpack and pulled out her water pouch.

"So how do you suggest we go in, I mean we can't exactly just walk up to the gates?" Tom said now as the bustle in the market place seemed to be reaching a crescendo.

"Oh but that's exactly how I plan on doing it Mr Paris, we just need some disguises."

Finding a rear entrance to the walled city was not hard, but they both knew they would have to wait for the cover of darkness before they could make their move. Tom sat now leaning against a tree, while Janeway seemed to be picking at some earth. He knew it was her substitute for pacing, the woman always needed to be moving in some respect and right now it was the ancient art of doodling she was amercing herself in.

"Do you think we should call the commander and let him know that we are ok?" Tom said after what felt like forever, yet the sun did not seem to be disappearing any time soon.

"Yes I suppose I had better, or half of Voyagers security team will be running around these woods." Janeway said as she dropped her stick and placed her hands on her knees.

"To tell you the truth I have been putting it off, I know what he will say and I also know that I will over rule him and do it anyway." Janeway continued with a slight smile as Tom sat more upright and listened.

"I know I am not crazy, but I would rather we got captured and they continued believe that the ball of fire that fell from the sky was a sign, than they learn the truth." Tom could here the reasoning in her voice, whether it was for him, or herself Tom did not know, but in that moment Janeway had pushed her comm badge.

"Captain to Chacotay, myself and the lieutenant have run into what could be a problem." Janeway winced slightly at her opening line, she knew that would set her XO off immediately.

"Do you need assistance?" Chacotay's voice came back, slightly scratchy but still perfectly understandable.

"No, the problem is they saw Voyager come down, most of them think it was some kind of sign, but others want to explore it further. These people Chacotay they are pre warp, pre industrial they can not know about our presence here." Silence followed before Janeway began again.

"Myself and Mr Paris will be going in under cover, see if we can distract them with trade etcetera. It is also better if for the moment we remain alone." Janeway had put on her best Captain's voice now and Tom almost had the decency to feel sorry for his commander, almost that was until the man's voice came back over the comm line.

"I don't suppose I have any say in this do I?" Janeway smiled slightly at Tom who nodded his head back in understanding.

"No you don't Chacotay, but I will be checking in with you every twenty four hours, if you don't hear anything, then you can send in the cavalry."

"Aye Captain, and please be careful." Chacotay said, his voice clearly trying to convey how much he meant his last words. Tom was not convinced Janeway had any intention of heading them however as finally and almost suddenly the sun dipped below the horizon and twilight fell around the forest.

Getting inside the walls had been easier than Janeway had thought it would be, there was hardly anyone in sight, and the patrols were regular and easy to avoid. Slipping down yet another poorly illuminated alleyway Janeway finally spotted what they needed. Boosting herself up onto a wall she quickly jumped down and landed on the grass behind. Looking back and seeing Tom perched on top she quickly signalled him to wait, and made it the rest of the way to the clothes line in the centre of the garden. Snatching of a dress for herself and a shirt and pants for Tom, Janeway rushed back and chucked Tom the clothes. He caught them and quickly ducked back behind the wall. Janeway joined him a moment later looking around to make sure the coast was clear. Taking her dress from Tom who was struggling with the bundle of clothing, Janeway rushed down ally way after ally way. The city however was like a rabbit warren, one street leading to the next and never back to the main wall.

"I think we are going in circles." Tom hissed as they stopped backs pressed to what seemed to be a shop as another patrol marched past.

"Agreed, I think we should get changed now, in case we do get spotted." Janeway said moving into the door way of the shop and completely enveloping herself in darkness. Tom stood still looking out until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Virtually leaping off the floor he spun around ready to strike the person who had touched him when he saw Janeway's face looking at him with surprise.

"Come on get in here and get changed." It wasn't exactly an order but it sure felt like one. Moving into the darkness with her Tom quickly divested himself of his clothing, unable to see much of anything it was hard to get into all his new clothes but he finally managed.

"Can you do me up." Janeway whispered as Tom fastened his belt and decided that the man who's pants he was wearing would have been a pretty even size to himself.

"Sure." Tom said quickly as Janeway began rustling next tom him.

"I can't really see, can you move out into the light slightly." Tom said fumbling with fabric and zip as Janeway took a few steps forwards. Now Tom could see creamy skin all the way down to the small of her back, for a moment he wondered what she had done with her underwear, but he could not dwell on that for too long, or it would have slowed his progress even more.

"Come on hurry up before we get spotted." Janeway said looking back over her shoulder as one of Tom's s hands lightly rested on her hip, while the other clasped the zip.

"Hey you two what are you doing out here half dressed." Turning her head at the sound of the man's voice Janeway's heart fell into her feet, as Tom's hands froze on her back.

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

Once again I must thank you for joining me on this journey through my imagination, also please after you have read the latest instalment go and check out my latest J/P vids on you tube. Sorry I don't know how to attach a link I am somewhat clueless in these matters.

My channel is under Claire o'mack so just try searching for that, if you are so inclined of course.

Onwards

As soon as the man stopped talking Tom got the zip in place, it was only a second later that Janeway was facing the man hands on her hips. Tom could have almost smiled, if the situation had not been so dire.

"Sir I am sorry for the confusion, but you see we were just slightly lost and." Janeway was cut off as the man stepped closer waving what looked like an old style Earth revolver. Tom of course recognised it immediately and placed himself in front of Janeway.

"Look we have a law against that sort of thing around here, either take your lady friend off the street, or find yourself in chains." The man continued speaking only to Tom and ignoring Janeway entirely.

"Umm yes I am sure, but what exactly do you think was going on here, because I assure you its not what it looks like." Tom replied somewhat awkwardly. This kind of thing was not his strong point, it really was more Janeway's area of expertise, and yet the solider looking at them seemed totally dismissive of her.

"I am sure it isn't sir, or at least not yet, if I had not come along and found you. So like I said move along or you will be accompanying me to the jail." Janeway had had about all she could take from this man. Plus being mistaken for a common whore was not the impression she wanted to make on these people. Stepping out from behind Tom, much to his dismay Janeway approached the solider and offered him what she considered a warm smile.

"I am afraid sir that you have got us all wrong. You see we are travellers from a long way away. We got ourselves lost after dark in your city, and in our hurry to find our way, the zip to my dress fell down." Janeway started noting that finally the solider was beginning to listen. It was however for too short a moment.

"I have heard it all before love, women like you, thinking they can charm their way out of anything with a smile and a good story. Come with me." Janeway felt the man's iron grip on her arm too late to get away. Tom for his troubles behind her was rewarded with a revolver in his face, it stopped him dead in his tracks as he stood not a yard behind where his Captain was being held fast.

"I am sure the magistrate will know what to do with the pair of you in the morning." The man said pulling Janeway out into the street. The lighting was better here, and Janeway looked around and spotted for the first time the market place. She couldn't see Tom properly from where the man blocked him from view. There was no way to signal to him to get away, and Janeway knew Tom would not have gone anyway.

Being pulled through the street by her arm was neither the most comfortable nor the most dignified way to enter the city. Having given up struggling after the solider had threatened to smack her Janeway had simply followed him quietly. From what she could tell Tom was doing the same, he had said nothing since the ally way, Janeway could only hope that he was coming up with some escape plan.

As they turned a corner into what looked like the more seedier side of the city they passed under some lanterns on the wall. Janeway stumbled slightly over a raised slab, her eyes having yet to adjust to the change in light. Almost going down onto her knees, she found herself caught by the same man who was dragging her off to what she assumed was jail.

"Come on I haven't got all." His words died on his lips as he looked down at Janeway's hand that her clutched in his own. Moving her now into the light more he glanced from her then to Tom. Letting go of her suddenly he took a step back and raised his weapon again.

"Where exactly did you say you came from again?" He enquired and Janeway took a quick glance at Tom before she looked down at the man's hands and saw what had made him so frightened.

Night had fallen and it was probably a very late hour on the planet and yet Chacotay could not even entertain the idea of sleep. He found himself pacing along a ridge that over looked a vast ocean. They had not seen it before, too busy trying to survive he guessed. It was only by chance that he had come this way at all. Sending the rest of Voyagers scavenging parties off into the woods, believing they would be the best place for finding food. Chacotay had wanted to be alone, this feeling of worry when the Captain was gone was not unusual, but it still got his stomach in knots every time. This time was even worse, this time she only had Paris for back up. It wasn't like Chacotay didn't trust Paris with the Captain, he had proved himself a good officer, but he didn't trust Tom with Kathryn. His fist had uncontentiously closed at his side at the thought before a hand on his shoulder shocked him out of his thoughts.

"Chacotay?" It was B'elanna's voice, and he turned with a small smile. It was for a while believed that Tom and B'elanna would become a item, for some reason that did not seem to have come to pass.

"Sorry I just needed to clear my head for a while." B'elanna gave him a small smile of her own, before taking him by the elbow and leading Chacotay back down the ridge to the camp.

"The Doc wants to see you. Its about Tuvok."

Almost running the rest of the way down the ridge and storming into the medical bay Chacotay was surprised to find the Vulcan in question looking at him with raised eyebrow.

"I see the commander was not aware of my recovery." He said and if Chacotay hadn't known any better he would have said the Vulcan sounded smug about this.

"No but I am glad to see you up and around Tuvok." Chacotay replied, keeping his own feelings to himself as well.

"I am fit and ready for duty Commander." Tuvok said just as the doctor walked back into the bay, his face seemingly buried in a data padd, but at Tuvok's words his head shot up.

"No he isn't commander, yes he is a Vulcan and he has healed remarkably quickly, but he needs rest at least twenty four hours. I am sure Voyager will not be leaving without you." The Doctor said looking pointedly at the Vulcan who straightened his back.

"Indeed Doctor, yet I still may be of some assistance." Tuvok replied as Chacotay enjoyed this little display of one up man's ship.

"I am sure a fit and healthy Tuvok would be very useful, but you have just had major surgery, I cannot condone you going back to work yet and that's an order Mr Tuvok." The Doctor said and Chacotay knew that would be the end of it. For what ever else Tuvok was, he was a Star fleet officer and he would obey that order.

"Understood Doctor, I will retire to may quarters now to meditate." Tuvok said with a slight inclination of his head. Chacotay followed him through the narrow opening between the sick bay and the temporary housing they had set up.

"I have not thanked you commander, for what you did for me on the bridge." Tuvok said suddenly just as they reached the end of the first pod.

"You have no need to commander, I would have done the same for any one. Now I must talk to you about a pressing issue." Chacotay said knowing he could not put off the absence of their Captain any longer.

Janeway couldn't help but stare for a moment at the four digits on the man's right hand. How had they not noticed before that this species had no little finger. It was however at this moment in time slightly fortuitous. It was also likely their way out of this situation, and maybe, ever better a way in.

"Like I said we come from very far away, beyond the great forest and further. My name is." For a moment Kathryn paused, she had no idea of what any of their names sounded like, and yet she had to introduce herself.

"My name is Kathryn Paris and this is my husband Tom." Janeway said not daring to look at Tom as she said it. Knowing however it would go along way to explain why they were alone in the dark together she watched as the solider before her lower his weapon.

"I am so sorry Ma'am, I truly didn't realise." He said now as Tom took a step forward. He had been for a moment taken back by Janeway's line of thinking, but it did seem to have done its job.

"It is no problem, we know you were only doing your job." Taking hold of Janeway's hand for effect, Tom was surprised when he felt her clutch back at his slight squeeze.

"Could you take us to see someone with whom we could do some business with." Janeway continued as she held Tom's hand and tried to covey her support though the simple touch.

"I can do better than that Ma'am, I think the king will want to see you two. It is not often we get visitors from so far away." The man now ushered them back along the ally way and out onto the main street. He now seemed to bounce along with excitement as they again walked down endless cobble stone until they reached a small but clean looking house.

"It is late to be taking you in front of the king, this is the house of my Captain, I am sure he will provide you with shelter for the night." The man said knocking loudly on the door, only to be shouted at to stop. Light poured over Janeway as the door was opened and a tall, stout looking man stood before her.

"What have you got here John, its a bit late for me to be locking up whores and their clients." The Captain said looking down at Janeway, who was becoming very annoyed at being thought of only as a tart

"No sir these people are from across the ocean, look at their hands." John said not thinking and taking Janeway's hand and showing it to his Captain. Than man looked down and held it for himself. For her part Janeway felt like the prize cow at the county fairs she used to attend as a child. She heard Tom take in a breath and she knew he was holding back a snigger. Vowing to get back at him later and having her hand returned to her Janeway smiled sweetly at their new host.

"Well now this is special, they say the ball of fire indicates change, I wonder if it was your arrival it was foretelling of." The Captain said offering them entrance to his house. He quickly turned and told the man John, that he was no longer needed. Janeway was not sure if this was a good thing or not. For now she decided to keep her council on the matter and continue the conversation on the fireball.

"It could do indeed, we saw it pass over head, just as we entered your lands. We hoped it was a good sign." Janeway spoke as the Captain showed them though to what looked like his living room.

"Some around here believe it is something else, something so stupid I dare not speak of it here in front of strangers." The Captain said offering them a seat on his couch. Janeway took it, as Tom perched himself next to her and looked back at the Captain. He looked nice enough, but obviously battle hardened. The scar that ran the length of his jaw was testament to that fact, and yet his smile was warm.

"I dare say we have some people like that back at our home lands, I suppose its just something to gossip about." Janeway replied as the Captain walked over to a shelf and removed a bottle from it. Pulling out three glasses along with it he handed one to Janeway and then to Tom. As Tom took his he couldn't help but watch as the Captain's eyes lingered on Janeway. Tom's muscles immediately tensed and the grip on his glass tightened.

"A drink to new acquaintances, you will sleep here tonight and tomorrow I will take you before the King, and we can discuss your business here." The Captain declared as he poured them all a drink which smelled suspiciously like bourbon.

"Indeed Captain, indeed." Janeway said as the man sat and smiled back at her.

Walking up the stairs carrying a candle and followed by Janeway, Tom was not sure if he was going to make it through the night with his sanity in tacked. The conversation with the Captain had quickly turned to their relationship,and Janeway had informed him of her marriage to Tom. It had thankfully put a stop to the Captain's lingering eyes, but had now provided them with a really awkward situation. Opening the door to their room and casting his eyes upon the small double bed Tom couldn't help but rolling his eyes slightly. Janeway brushed passed him and landed heavily on the bed and stretched her aching muscles. The dress she had pulled off the line in haste was a good size too small for her, and it had been digging to her rib cage for hours now. It was also having the effect of pushing up things she wished to remain hidden. Also this was probably why the two people she had met this evening had thought of her as a prostitute.

"I don't suppose you picked up any of our things from that door way?" Janeway said knowing Tom couldn't possibly have collected their things any more than she could have.

"No sorry Captain, I guess we had better go and get them, before someone finds them." Tom said thinking he would get out of having to lay down next to her by going and retrieving their things.

"Yes but not now, we will get up early in the morning and go then. We will never find where we left them in the dark anyway." Janeway said as she looked around the room, but found nothing, not even a tooth brush.

"Ok so I guess I will take the chair." Tom said sitting on the small stool by the window and preying that Janeway wouldn't object.

"You won't get any sleep there Tom." She said her voice sad, but also in understanding, she said no more, simply laying down and pulling the covers over herself as she stripped off the dress. Placing it on the floor beside the bed she looked over at Tom, who was staring through the window and resting his legs on the ledge.

"Good night Tom, and please if you get cold or uncomfortable," She stopped talking, knowing that Tom got what she was saying and both knowing that there was no way he was getting in that bed tonight.

TBC...

Thank you for reading XxX


	8. Chapter 8

Welcome dear readers, please forgive me about the lack of updates, but duty called.

Onwards:

Janeway was tossing under the covers, her mind caught in a nightmare. Disconnecting images of her ship crashing into the planet, her crew killed in the final explosion and finally to be left alone. She awoke startled into conscientious by the images, only to find herself alone once more. Her nightmare following her into her waking state. Sitting up quickly and scanning the room for life, she found none.

"Tom." Janeway hissed into the still murky light from the open window. It was clear dawn was just about to break, and Tom was not here. Gathering the blanket around her, Janeway got out of the bed and approached the window. She looked down on the still deserted streets and wondered what could have happened to the Lieutenant. For a brief moment she wondered if he had been taken, like a scientific oddity meant for study. The idea was brushed off quickly, these people did not seem to have much use for science. So the question remained, he had now been gone too long for a simple call of nature, and the sun was fast coming up beyond the horizon. It was unlike Tom to simply abandon her, and yet she had not awoken either as he left the room. Something else that was usual, for Janeway, who by necessity was a light sleeper. Too many nights spent at red alert, too many spent on the ground in some enemy strong hold, and yet she had slept on. This suggested to Janeway that Tom had left purposefully and very quietly.

Frowning now Janeway moved back towards the bed and picked up her dress. She did not relish the idea of putting the garment back on, but there was no way she was going outside in just a sheet. As Janeway shook the dress from its crumpled pile on the floor, a soft thud came from the floor board beneath it. Looking down, Janeway spied her communicator and she allowed herself a lopsided grin.

Picking the object up with her fore fingers she shook her head slightly and pressed it, the familiar chirp sounded loud inside the small room, thankfully there was no one around to here it.

"Janeway to Paris, where are you."

Tuvok had been sitting in his quarters now meditating for nearly twelve hours. At first he had found it hard to concentrate after what the commander had told him. He knew Janeway to be impetuous at times, and also completely stubborn about looking after her own safety as well as the crews. Now though, and begrudgingly having to acknowledge the Doctors correctness, Tuvok was ready to find the Captain and make sure she was ok. The mediation seemed to have done the trick for his aching side, and although he would never admit it, allowed his body the time to heal it needed.

Standing up slowly and blowing out his candle, Tuvok left his room and walked down the corridor. Hoping to make a quite and unnoticed exit, it was not to be. As he stepped into the sunshine Nelix spotted him from where many of them had gathered for breakfast.

"Mr Tuvok so glad you are feeling better. Now wont you come and have some breakfast with us. We have managed to collect some really nice fruits from the forest." As ever Nelix's enthusiasm was lost on the Vulcan, and yet Tuvok knew if it were no longer present that he would miss it.

"I am afraid Mr Nelix that I must decline, I must see the commander." Tuvok replied as ever polite if not a little sharp.

"I understand, we are all worried about the Captain and Mr Paris, going off like that alone, but now you have returned I am sure you will get them back safe and sound." Tuvok raised his eyebrows at the Talaxian but chose to say nothing. Simply inclining his head and moving off towards where the remaining senior members of Voyagers crew were standing.

Chacotay saw Tuvok coming and knew the Vulcan was intent on going after the Captain, but right now there was actually a more pressing issue.

"Good morning Commander, I wish to request a small team to go and retrieve the Capitan and the Lieutenant." Tuvok began before Chacotay could even reply to his greeting.

"I am afraid not Commander, we have a bigger issue here, and as far as we know the Capitan is not in any danger. We will be needing you hear for the moment." Chacotay looked for a sign that the Vulcan was about to disagree with him, but none was forth coming.

"Very well what do you require me to do?" Tuvok asked, knowing that for now at least the crew would have to come first.

"It seems that the hissing noise B'elanna and Harry heard two days ago is much worse than we thought. Voyager is leaking pure neutronium gas into the atmosphere and it is highly toxic, if we don't plug the leak soon we could alter this planets climate irreversibly." Tuvok looked around at the rest of the crews faces, it was clear that there was something else that they had not mentioned.

"How do you wish to proceed?" Tuvok asked feeling that they needed a little encouragement to ask what he suspected was a difficult question.

"We need to go into the reactor and shut it down, but we have lost all our environmental suits in the crash." B'elanna now spoke up, her voice as usual was filled with a slight agitation but her stance was uneasy.

"How will the radiation effect anyone sent in there?" Tuvok asked as the Doctor finally spoke up.

"It will kill them, well any human attempting it, however with some anti radiation drugs and the breathing equipment we have on hand, yourself and the Lieutenant could last twenty minutes inside the tube."

"Would you then be able to reverse the effects of the radiation?" Tuvok questioned but he felt he already knew the answer, it had been written all over their faces even as he had first approached them. Now none of them were looking at him except the chief engineer, her eyes told a million stories, her face a open book for him to read, something his own would never be to her.

"Its unlikely, but if we can get it done faster then we stand a chance." B'elanna said finally, knowing they had no choice, soon the radiation would start effecting all of them, including the unsuspecting population of the planet they had crashed on.

"Then may I suggest we complete this task as quickly as possible." Tuvok replied moving towards the Doctor who had already prepared a hypo-spray and Tuvok held out his arm to accept his fate.

Tom had crept out of the house before dawn, unable to get comfortable, and once falling asleep and almost off the chair instantly, he had decided to go and retrieve their belongings from where they had left them. Having tried really hard to remember landmarks and turnings on their journey here. Tom had found the door way after only half an hour and one wrong turn later. Gathering their things into one of the bags he threw it over his shoulder and began the walk back. Thinking he would stow the other backpack somewhere later, he for now tucked it under his arm and moved quietly though the streets. He remembered Janeway's peaceful face as he had left, she had looked so content under the blanket that he did not have the heart to wake her. Thinking that he would be back before she woke he had not considered the fact that she might panic if she did wake to his absence. The chirping of his communicator then had shocked him into almost dropping the backpack around his shoulder.

"Tom here, sorry Captain I went and got our stuff back, I am only five minutes away." He replied to the Captain's slightly harrowed voice as he picked up his pace.

"Next time Mr Paris, please consult me on your movements." Her voice this time did not sound panicked but pissed and Tom winced slightly. Knowing that he had no choice but to face her, he replied with a simple yes Ma'am and forged onwards towards the house.

Entering the dwelling with as much stealth as possible as not to wake their still sleeping host, Tom tiptoed upstairs and opened the door. He saw Janeway looking out of the window, and for a moment wondered just how long she had been watching him for. Janeway did not turn to him right away, she simply stood there looking out as the sun rose above the buildings and cast her shadow on the floor behind her. Tom grew nervous at her silence but did take the opportunity to look at her. The sun casting her into virtual silhouette against the window, her stance still that of someone in total control, even though her ship and crew were miles away. Her hair hung like a halo around her head, and Tom decided that he could live with it being shorter now, even though he secretly loved it long.

His continued silence and staring were obviously burning a hole in the back of Janeway's head as she suddenly turned round and caught him in the act. For a moment Tom thought he saw a blush, but it was gone before he could be sure.

"Not that I approve Mr Paris, but I assume all our things are present and correct." Janeway said now moving towards him, in what looked like and uncomfortable stiff way.

"Yeah no one had found them thankfully, everything is still here, not that we can use any of it right now, I suggest we find a good hiding place for it. Wouldn't want to have to explain what this is." Tom said holding up the tricorder and giving Janeway a flash of his best smile.

"Quite Mr Paris, but for now I think we should keep them with us, can't risk the Captain finding them if he goes snooping." Janeway replied taking the tricorder from him and thinking where she could stow it upon her person. Realising that the dress was not exactly equipped with pockets she handed it back to Tom.

"I think you might have to find a place for it for now." She said with a small smile, as he took it from her and placed it under his belt and covered it with his shirt.

"This dress did not come with any wiggle room." Janeway said the mood finally lifting in the small room as Tom looked at her and for a moment felt like the old Tom again.

"I think it suits you." Janeway had to turn her face away from him this time, she knew this was not an appropriate conversation for them to be having, but there was also a seductiveness to Tom's compliment that as a woman she found hard to ignore. There had always been something about Tom that Janeway could not ignore. Push to the back of her mind, perhaps, and on the ship it had been easy to do so. Here in the morning sun alone in a small room, that something was being pushed forward, the thing she couldn't put her finger on that made Tom special. Turning towards him again, knowing she not only looked rude, but also slightly mad Janeway, gave him a small smile.

"Thank you." She said, for once not wanting to make light of his comment with humour, or quash it buy ignoring it. There were times Janeway knew they all needed a little bit of honesty, and right now was one of those times. Now left with a slightly awkward silence Tom's mouth opened, Janeway was waiting to here what he wanted to say, his face told her that this was a big question for him, but before the words could drop out of his mouth a knock came at the door.

Janeway wanted to curse the man behind the door before he called out for them. She replied with an equally cheery that they would be down in a moment and she turned to Tom with an apologetic smile.

"Come on our public awaits." She said feeling in an unusually playful mood, especially considering the circumstances. Tom shrugged it off, assuming she was suffering from a lack of caffeine and followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen. The smell coming from the room was far from unpleasant. Fresh bread and what Tom considered to be bacon wafted though the house. Janeway's tummy gave a loud growl as they walked into the room and the Captain turned to them both and regarded Janeway with a smile.

"Sounds like someone is hungry. Good put some meat on your bones, come sit." He said as Janeway sat as she was told but wondered if she could get away with slapping him one at the same time. Deciding it would not be a wise move, she tucked into her breakfast and was glad that what the Captain had on offer was most delicious. Looking over at Tom she noticed that he too had no complaints and she allowed herself a small smile.

"I have contacted the kings guard and he has informed his Lordship of your arrival, I am pleased to say he is eager to meet you. So we shall be departing straight after breakfast." The Captain said as Janeway's appetite seamed to leave her as suddenly as it had come. Tom too stopped eating finishing the bit that was in his mouth he pushed his plate away and sat back in his chair. Not wanting to seem ungrateful Janeway thanked the Captain for the food and said she was full. Seemingly satisfied with that the Captain stood up and cleared away the plates.

"Then may I suggest we make haste,we don't like to keep the king waiting."

It was on the walk to the castle where they had been joined by several other guards that Janeway realised that they had nothing to trade. They had come ill prepared for this part of their scenario. The original plan had been to return to Voyager, get something which these people seemed in need of and bring it back to trade for the dilithium. Circumstances however had forced them to this and now Janeway was having to come up with plan B fast. She hoped that just their presence, would be for now distracting enough, but it was always good to have a back up plan. Looking over at Tom she could not read his face from this angel. His silence though was telling her enough, he had no better idea what to do than she did. The castle loomed above them now, the obvious main focal point of the entire city. Janeway felt slightly taken back by the sheer scale of the place, its high turrets, and huge gates had like Tom suggested, stepped straight off the pages of old fairy tales, yet this was no children's fable, it was real, and as the gates opened before them Janeway got her first glimpse into history.

TBC...

As always feedback is strongly encouraged, hope you are enjoying and thank you for reading XxX


	9. Chapter 9

_All we've been through, for nothing but an idea! Something that you cannot taste, smell, or feel; without substance, life, reality, memory.- King Arthur_

Please enjoy onwards:

Janeway walked slowly down the long elaborate hall way, either side was flanked by statues of what Janeway could only presume was former kings. Each was back lit by the most beautiful stain glass windows she had ever seen. Most seemed to depict a scene of battle of some kind. Not having the time to study them, her eyes were pulled from the view by a man's voice coming from a stage, upon this stage was a giant throne, donned in gold and red. The stairs leading to this were white marble, and it was these stairs that the man, Janeway supposed was the king was descending.

"Welcome friends, please come closer I wish to meet you." His voice almost echoed around the hall, even though he was not speaking that loudly. Janeway for a moment was unusually nervous. Perhaps because this time the stakes were so high. Walking with Tom right up to the base of the marble stairway they stopped as the king stood on the lowest step before them. He looked down at the pair of them with dark brown eyes. His gaze wondering from each of their faces and back again before finally settling on Tom's.

"I am pleased sir that you would travel so far to see us, I hope we are as hospitable as you hoped." The king said with a small bow as Tom was uncertain how to reply to this he started by returning the kings gesture. Lowering his head and bowing as Janeway watched the exchange.

"Yes we have travelled a long way, but I am sure we will be most happy here." Tom said still a little unsure how to handle this situation and hoping the subject would be changed soon. The King nodded at him and then a smile grew on his face.

"Then I welcome you to my Kingdom of Candover, I am King Sebastian and I invite you now to a banquet tonight in the great hall." The King introduced himself, his eyes now coming to rest upon Janeway's. His smile never leaving his lips as he descended the last step and took hold of her hand. Raising it to his lips he paused momentarily to examine the strange fifth digit before continuing and placing a kiss upon the back of her hand.

"We would be honoured." Janeway replied, knowing full well how to play this game, and very glad that they had some time before the question of trade would come up.

"The honour will be all mine." The king replied in a tone that Janeway understood all too well. She did not show it however, simply nodding and holding the false smile on her face as the king backed up once more towards his throne.

"Before we begin however I need to know if you have been to any other kingdoms on your travels here?" The king said as he sat down slowly on his throne. His dark brow eyes studied Tom and Janeway as they looked back at him.

"No we came straight here, as we knew from tales that you had what we needed." Janeway said hoping that it was the answer the king was looking for. It also happened to be the truth.

"Good I am glad, for I must warn you, we are currently at war with the neighbouring Kingdom of Gath, for now however you are our guests and will be treated as such." The king said opening up his arms in a gesture Tom thought was slightly over dramatical. His attention was suddenly diverted from the King as he began talking about getting them accommodation and clothing, as his communicator started buzzing in his pocket. Tom had managed to silence the chirp on it for this very occasion. At first he ignored it, trying to pay attention to what the King was saying, but after it continued to shake he threw a look at Janeway. She was however not paying him any attention, she seemed engrossed with what the King was saying, and yet his communicator was still shaking inside his pocket. Not knowing how to get her attention Tom inched closer to her, not taking his eyes off the King, and seeing that the man was far more interested in looking at his Captain any way. Feeling his hand finally make contact with hers, Janeway finally turned to him and Tom blinked twice. It was a pre arranged signal for a problem and he immediately saw her straighten up.

"You are to kind, but we are weary from our travels, we would appreciate some time to rest before the banquet." Janeway said interrupting the King as he began talking about Candover's past kings. Then man stopped talking immediately, he turned back to look at Janeway, and for a moment she thought he was going to be angry at her interruption. His eyes seemed to narrow slightly, he pushed his dark brown hair away from his eyes and placed both hands on the arms of his throne. Janeway braced herself but in a instant the look was gone. A smile replaced his frown and his hands clapped together.

"Of course, where are my manners, take our guests to their chambers." The king said standing up and once more bowing slightly at the pair of them. With that he was gone, Janeway almost immediately relaxed until she noted the concern in Tom's eyes. Unable to ask him what was wrong at that moment, she simply turned and followed the guards that had been assigned to show them to their room. Janeway followed the men as they took them up a grand stairway which led to a long corridor. Rooms were evenly spaced on either side. Most of them had a suit of armour, or a crest outside of it. For a moment Janeway wondered what they all meant, until she was stopped by Tom's hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him, and realised that they had arrived at their destination. They had reached the end of the corridor and were now stood outside a pair of double doors. Each side flanked by a suit of armour carrying what Janeway supposed was the flag of Candover.

"If you need anything I am sure Gwen will be happy to get it for you." On of the guards said, as a woman was pushed forward. Her head hung low, her dark hair fell across her face. Pale skin below coloured slightly as Tom looked at her.

"Thank you, but for now all we need is some sleep." Janeway said reaching forward and opening the door to their room.

The guards bid them goodbye and Gwen also nodded goodbye but did not seem to be moving. Janeway suspected that the woman would not be moving far from their room, and quickly closed the door as soon as Tom was inside. Turning to him quickly but placing her finger over her lips to keep him quite, she ushered him to the far side of the room. As yet nether of them had taken in the grand décor of the room, or the beautiful view of the city. Right now they had more pressing things on their mind.

"What is it Tom?" Janeway asked quietly as Tom pulled out his communicator and handed it to her.

"I don't know but this hasn't stopped going off for the past ten minuets. Whatever it is, it must be important."

Tuvok led the way down the corridor of deck ten, the leak was coming from the maintenance conduit on deck thirteen, but there was no way to get to it from the outside of the ship. They were going to have to walk there, probably crawl most of it, but they didn't have much time. Leaving the breathing apparatus off for now, until they really needed it, Tuvok and B'elanna made their way quickly across debris and piping. Knowing time was short, and what they had to do, both of them remained silent. B'elanna was focused on the task, but she was aware of what this meant. Putting the thought of her own demise to the back of her mind she watched a Tuvok pulled the hatch off Jeffreys tube twelve. It would take them straight to the problem, and it was now that their twenty minutes began. Climbing in, B'elanna closed the hatch behind them, plugging the leak as it were, even of only for a short time. Crawling quickly she took no notice off all the damage before her, it didn't matter right now anyway.

"You may want to start using your respirator now Lieutenant." Tuvok said pulling his own mask over his mouth as they came to the next hatch. They repeated the same procedure, going though and closing it behind them. The hissing sound was now quite loud, as the broken conduit pumped the toxic gas though the bowels of Voyager. B'elanna again pushed the thought of her death to the back of her mind as she breathed through her mask. It would slow the intake of the radiation, but not stop it. It would leach into her skin, get in through the ducts in her eyes, and even penetrate her clothing. Pressing forwards, as Tuvok was doing she was grateful now for the stoic Vulcan. If it had been one of her engineers, or even Harry, she was sure they would not have made it this far.

Coming finally to the last barrier Tuvok didn't hesitate in opening it, quickly checking to see how much time they had he moved into the small room and stood upright in the junction. Looking back he saw B'elanna step though behind him and again close the hatch. She looked around at the damage and sighed.

"This is going to take longer than twenty minutes." She said pulling out her tool kit and placing it on the ledge beside her.

"Actually Lieutenant we only have sixteen minutes and seventeen seconds remaining." Tuvok replied also getting out his tools and placing them beside him.

"Thank you for the reminder." She huffed as she began to fix the leak. Tuvok watched for a moment. He could see what needed to be done now as B'elanna patched each hole one by one. Carefully sealing each crack twice to make sure it held. He now also knew that B'elanna was right, it was going to take far longer then they had realised.

B'elanna was working on the third patch when she felt herself lifted up and carried towards the hatch.

"What in the hell are you doing?" She cried almost dropping her tools on the floor as she flopped about on Tuvok's shoulder.

"Voyager can not stand to loose its chief engineer at this time. If Voyager is ever to return home, you will be a key part in her recovery." Tuvok said putting her down and opening the hatch. He looked B'elanna right in the eyes and she understood what he was about to do.

"No way, you will be too Tuvok, you cannot do this." She said trying to reason with him, but even her own logic, which was not as fine tuned as his, knew he was making the right decision.

"Perhaps, but I believe my greatest contribution to Voyagers safe return will end here." As he said this his face did not change. No tears were shed and B'elanna for a moment knew exactly why the Captain respected this man so much.

"Make sure you seal it well Commander, I don't want to have to come down here and repair your shoddy workmanship." B'elanna said, her words were spoken in jest but also held a seriousness to them.

"I will make sure of it Lieutenant." Tuvok replied with a slight inclination of his head, not hesitating this time he pushed B'elanna though the hatch and quickly closed the door. Taking in a deep breath he closed his eyes momentarily.

"Please tell Captain Janeway that I wish her well, and have been honoured to serve with her." Tuvok said speaking to B'elanna now via his comm badge.

"I will Tuvok, and good luck." B'elanna replied knowing that she had to leave, there was no point staying and dying alongside Tuvok. He had sacrificed himself for her, and by god was she going to make sure it had not been in vain. Scurrying along the Jeffreys tube she burst out into the open, taking a last look back she closed the hatch and made for the hole in Voyager's side.

Tuvok had turned back to the broken conduit, pausing for a moment he thought about his wife, and his children. He knew that he had taught his children well, and that his wife had loved him. His work as well as his life there was over now. Tuvok then thought about the crew he had served with, their families and their journey home. Logically Tuvok knew that many of them were unlikely to make it back, but somewhere in his heart he knew that this crew, if any in Star fleet, would manage it. He knew Kathryn Janeway his friend would get them there logic be dammed.

TBC... thank you for reading XxX


	10. Chapter 10

When Janeway finally got round to getting in contact with Chacotay he was on the verge of panic.

"Kathryn I was just about to send out a rescue party, we have had a a bit of trouble back here, I don't know if it is at all possible, but you really should come back." Chacotay didn't want to tell her about Tuvok, not yet anyway, when B'Elanna had first come back, far sooner than they had originally anticipated, Chacotay had been hopeful, thinking the Doctor could now easily correct any radiation damage. When she had emerged from Voyager alone however, her face slightly hung towards the ground. Chacotay's hope had faded fast. It was then he had tried to get in contact with Janeway, after ten minutes and no answer though Chacotay had gotten a search party together. Fearing the worst he had armed them, and given them strict instruction to retrieve the Captain, whatever the cost.

Chacotay knew that the crews moral would not stand up to the loss of their third officer, pilot and Captain in one single day. It was then maybe fortune, or perhaps by fate that Janeway had chosen that moment to finally reply to his hails.

"What is up Commander?" Janeway replied in her no nonsense tone, indicating to Chacotay that this was not in fact an ideal time for them to be leaving. Chacotay found himself in a situation he never wanted to be in. He did not want to tell Janeway over the comm that her best and oldest friend was probably dead.

"It's Tuvok, you really should come back." Chacotay finally settled for. The tone of his voice and the hesitancy with which he said it got Janeway's attention immediately.

"We are a few hours away from you at the moment, plus we are not exactly in a position to simply leave. Do you think the transporter has enough power to get us out?" Janeway asked not looking at Tom as she spoke. Holding back the tears that were threatening to fall, was all she could do right now. Janeway had recognised the tone in Chacotay's voice all to easily. She had used it enough herself. Now one look in Tom's direction would have crumbled the little resolve she had left.

"Harry expects so, might be a bit of a rough ride." Chacotay said after speaking to the young Ensign, who was already on the verge of tears. They were all pretty run down, and emotional right now. Each loss on Voyager had been hard, like loosing part of the family, but now, stranded on this planet, it cut even closer to home.

"Tell him to do it Chacotay, we need to make the trip back as well, we can not afford to miss the meeting we have later." Janeway said, knowing that whatever had happen to Tuvok, she still had over a hundred crew members to think about. Janeway knew first and foremost she was a Captain, no matter who she had lost, or what was happening to her, she had to be strong for them.

"Prepared to beam out Captain." Chacotay said, as soon as Janeway acknowledged his comm, the extravagant room in the kings castle disappeared in a swirling of lights. Blinking a few times and feeling a slight tingling in her fingers from the elongated trip through the transporter, Janeway stepped off the platform followed by Tom. The mood of the Voyager camp was beyond sombre. The sight of their Captain seemed to perk up some of the younger members of the crew, but the one face that remained down turned was that of Voyagers Chief engineer. Janeway made a bee line for her now, only stopping quickly to offer words of encouragement to the few crew littered around outside.

"B'Elanna what happened?" Janeway asked as she came up to the younger woman. B'Elanna's eyes turned to Janeway's and that was all she needed, the half Klingon had obviously been crying, she had pulled herself together only moments before the Captain had materialised on the transporter padd. Now face to face with each other both seemed to be struggling with what had happened, even though Janeway did not know exactly what that was yet, her fine tuned senses were telling her that it was bad.

"We had a leak." B'Elanna began with, going though bit by bit of her story until she came to the part where Tuvok pushed her out of the hatch and locked it. Janeway nodded her head and turned to see Chacotay, Tom and the Doctor standing behind her.

"Can we go in and get him?" She asked looking at the Doctor specifically, but noticing Chacotay's shaking head as she spoke.

"If one of us did, they would surely get a lethal dose of radiation poisoning. Even if Tuvok has managed to seal the leak, there would still be enough present to pretty much kill a human in a matter of moments." The Doctor replied his voice stern but it held a quality to it that Janeway had not heard from the holographic man before. His voice held real sympathy and respect.

"Ok I understand, there will be a point when we can go in and get him out though?" Janeway said, not really requiring an answer, and no one offered her one. Janeway nodded and turned to Tom and he moved towards her.

"Now would be a good opportunity to collect something we could trade with King Sebastian." Janeway said shifting gear straight back to business. Tom understood that right now Janeway needed this, she needed the distraction, to work, to get her crew and her ship off this planet. It wasn't just for them now, it was also for all those who hadn't made it. Tom simply turned and walked towards Harry, knowing that at least for a moment, this task would distract his friend from what had happened. Tom was ignoring his own feelings right now, feeling like he should follow his Captain's example, especially for the younger members of Voyagers crew. He also knew that he had the most important job of all to do now. He knew with certainty that he and Janeway would be retuning to the castle and to the banquet. Tom knew he would have to keep an eye on his Captain, not because he was scared that she would break down or crumble under the pressure. No in some way's that would have been easier to deal with. No she was likely to put herself in a dangerous situation to save the rest of her crew. Tom knew he would have to be there to stop her, or to at least do some damage control.

It took an hour to recharge the transporter, and Tom had managed to gather some of Voyagers supplies to show the King. Janeway had looked at the things Tom had decided upon and gave him a nod of approval. Giving the signal to Harry to beam them back Janeway felt her heat pull her back just as hard as the transporter beam was tearing her away. Getting into the room and finding it blissfully empty Janeway jumped into action. Picking up the food items Tom had brought she arranged them in an empty bowel on the table. The ore samples were then placed in a small bag, and the cloth samples simply laid out one on top of the other. Janeway just hoped that the King would not want vast quantities of anything. With their replicator's down, and supplies running low Voyager could only stand to loose so much of anything.

Just as Janeway and Tom finished arranging their offerings there was a knock at the door. Janeway turned to Tom before telling the person knocking to enter.

"I beg your pardon, but I have been instructed to give you theses, they are for the party tonight." Gwen said entering the room with her head down and holding out a rectangular shaped box. As Tom took it, the timid lady simply retreated out of the door. Closing it behind her and leaving the pair alone once more.

"Well now what?" Janeway asked as Tom lifted the lid and gave her a slight shake of the head.

"Not sure you are going to like it Captain." Tom replied as he pulled the dress from the box and held it out for her. Tom had been right Janeway was not in the mood for playing dress up, on the other hand she was not that enamoured with the dress she had on. Taking the long flowing red dress from Tom, Janeway was pleased with the fact that he had not gotten away scot free either. Below the dress was a shirt and pants for Tom to also change into. Going their separate ways, Janeway into the bathroom, and Tom over towards the rear of the bed they both changed into their new attire. Reappearing only a few minutes later, Tom was stunned into silence for a moment. Where the other dress had been more revealing, this one was far more elegant. Tom thought is suited her perfectly, but did not have the courage to utter those words.

Janeway was simply pleased that the dress actually fitted, no longer was her breathing restricted, or her bust threatening to pop out at any occasion. She had to admit she liked the dress, not something she would consciously buy herself, but never the less acceptable. Looking up she noticed Tom staring at her. His eyes were quickly averted when she noticed, but Janeway did not miss the look of approval there before he turned his face away. Janeway took a moment to take in Tom's form in the fitted shirt and beige trousers. She had to admit he cut a fine figure standing their, the window back lighting him. For a moment Janeway almost forgot she had just lost her best friend, almost apart from the gnawing pain in the pit of her stomach. Forcing the feeling to the back of her mind, Janeway picked up the parcel of ore and watched as Tom retrieved the food and the clothes from the table. Looking only momentarily at one another, both glad the other was there but saying nothing, they moved almost simultaneously towards the door.

When Janeway and Tom walked out of their room they were almost immediately met by a contingency of guards. They were once again escorted though the castle and led along a long an extravagantly decorated corridor. The carpet was a deep purple in colour, and plush beneath their thin soled shoes. The boots of the guards no longer echoed along the stone that they had previously been walking on, and the statues that flanked them either side grew even larger than the ones in the throne room. Janeway's attention was caught by a large horse, standing on its hind legs, the rider atop it was holding a spear high, looking pleased with himself. For a second Janeway paused in her movements and the guard immediately behind her collided with her back.

"Pardon me Ma'am." He said turning to look at the statue also and nodding his head.

"That one is a beautiful statue, it is of our last king, king Sebastian father. He was riding the great stallion Zeus when had slain the King of Gath. That statue was erected in his honour upon his return." As the guard was speaking Janeway saw the look of admiration in the man's eyes. She supposed she could understand it, but being a Star fleet officer, and a child of the twenty forth century, violence for the sake of land, or profit was abhorrent to her. In truth Janeway hated violence of any kind, she only used it in self defence, and even then only as much as strictly necessary. Through all of her thoughts they had continued moving along the corridor, now they had reached another pair of doors. Janeway could only imagine what this room would look like, going by all the others, she knew it would be grand, over done and completely unnecessary. On the other hand everything she had seen had been beautiful, all the statues, and art work had been meticulously done, probably by hand and over years and years of different rulers. Janeway had to admire that at least, even if for right now it was not what she needed. Time to grieve for Tuvok would have to wait, right now she had to be simply a Captain, something far harder than it should have been.

Tom saw Janeway hesitate as the doors were opened before them, there was a huge table, ten chairs down either side, one at the head and a huge spread of food in the centre. As Tom began to move, on instinct alone he took hold of Janeway's hand and escorted her into the banquet hall. As Janeway did not pull away from him Tom allowed himself a small smile, any support he could offer her right now was good, of course there was only so much he could do, but her small hand clutching his as they were shown to their seats was also providing him with the strength he would need to get through this. Sitting down Tom was hoping that this would all be over quickly. Dinner business and then back to Voyager with all the Dilithium they would need to get back on the road home. Tom suspected however that things would not be that simple, they never were. Before he could ask Janeway what the plan was, or even if she was ok, the king walked in, he was flanked by three guards and they walked him all the way over to his chair at the head of the table. Sitting down the King then turned to the only other two guests and offered them a warm smile. Again his eyes lingered on Janeway before he turned towards the doors behind them, which seemed to open as if by the simple command of his stare.

"Tom, Kathryn, may I present my court of knights and noblemen." The King said introducing them one by one, as they took their seats. Janeway stopped paying attention after about the fifth man to sit down. The King who was immediately on her right kept looking at every time he introduced someone. Janeway took hold of Tom's hand above the table and causing her pilot to give her a sideways glance, but not say anything further. Once everyone had taken their seats Janeway only had one thing on her mind, how far would she go to make sure Voyager got what it needed to take to the stars once more. The answer was simple she would go as far as she needed to, no matter the personal cost. Tuvok had asked nothing less of himself, there was no way Janeway was going to let him down now buy running away when things got tough. Taking a quick look at Tom she saw him watching her as he reached for the bread laid out in front of them. They had been told to start the feast, but as yet Janeway had not touched anything. Tom gave her a small smile, but something was telling her that Tom, not the king or his nights,was going to be the main problem in doing what she had to do to save Voyager. Offering Tom a small smile back, and appeasing him for now by taking some of the bread as well, Janeway sat and bided her time. Soon she may have to act, but for now she would watch and wait.

TBC... Thank you for reading XxX


End file.
